minnow // sirius black

fifty-four

54 ;   birthday

Peter arrived in the early evening on the 19th, and though I didn't care for him as much, he did seem rather excited to be there. He seemed incredibly happy to be included, and so I was happy. 

I may not care for Peter as much as our other friends, but that doesn't mean that I enjoyed seeing him unhappy. I didn't enjoy excluding him, but he was frequently quite the debby-downer. He was still one of my friends, and while I thought of him last, that didn't mean that I wanted him to never be a part of my life. 

I just wouldn't mind if he wasn't. 

"You seem indifferent to Peter being here," Lily said as I finished putting away the dried plates from lunch. We had eaten sandwiches, and since there were six people here at the time there were more dishes than what we normally had. Now there were seven. I looked at her, and into the living room, where Peter was laughing boisterously with the boys, "I'm not trying to be antagonistic, I'm just... observing."

"Yeah, maybe I am," I admitted quietly as I turned to Esme. She was sitting at the kitchen table coloring in her little book. Aubrey and Harry were in the living room with Sirius and James, enjoying the attention they got from the four boys. I looked at Lily, "It is not that I don't like Peter, I just... He's not my favorite person. I don't care for him? He's always followed James and Sirius around like a puppy, and while I understand they are friends, he's always gotten on my nerves. I don't know. It sounds so much worse than I mean it."

"No, I understand. I don't like Peter, but I don't dislike him. He's one of James' friends, and so he's there. I don't go out of my way to interact with him, or avoid him."

"I used to go out of my way to avoid him. When we were in our first four years at Hogwarts he creeped me out. He just... looked at me weirdly, and followed James or I everywhere we went."

"I remember that," Lily snorted under her breath. "He was worse than Severus was, which is saying a lot."

"I disliked him back then, but after a while - after I died, I just didn't have it in me to dislike him anymore. He's important to James and Sirius, and so his existence in my home is tolerated."

Lily laughed, light and quiet, before she snatched Esme out of her chair and went into the living room. I grabbed the coloring book and her crayons, following after Lily. 

Esme immediately returned to pretending nobody else existed as she colored in a dragon. Aubrey began to fuss in Remus' arms, until he finally passed her off to Sirius. She still fussed, so she was handed to me. She calmed down almost instantly, returning to the quiet wonderstruck look she'd held up until then. 

Harry was completely fine being handed around the circle, from James to Remus, to Sirius, back to James, to Peter, back to Remus. Peter didn't seem to enjoy holding any of the little ones, preferring to interact without the responsibility of potentially dropping them. I didn't blame him. Holding an infant - especially a wormy one like Harry - was nerve wracking if you've never done it before. Esme was a great learning tool for Lily and James. 

Kayla and Dean arrived a few hours before dinner.

It wasn't long before the babies began to fuss, hungry and tired. Lily took Harry from Sirius and she and I went to our respective bedrooms to feed them, and put them to sleep. 

I told Sirius to start making dinner, which the boys had said they wanted fried chicken and potato wedges, but when I came back out - an hour later - he hadn't done so. I wasn't surprised, Sirius was as useful in cooking as James was. Only thing Sirius had on James was that he could at least cook using magic.