The Marauders//COMPLETED

17

"JAMES! SIRIUS!" Peter shrieked in a higher pitch than he had ever reached before, sounding even more like a rat than usual. "GUYS!"

He dove toward the trapdoor and pulled the handle as hard as he could, but the mud must have been disturbed when they opened it before and as a result the door was wedged fairly tightly. "GUYS!"

The beast he was trapped with was prowling back and forth a few feet from Peter and the trapdoor. A hungry glint filled it's small, dark eyes. The look of a predator when it knows it's prey is cornered.

"STAY BACK, YOU BEAST!" Peter pulled his wand out shakily from his robe pocket. "STAY BACK, I SAID! Or I will blast that little snout right off your ugly body!"

But the beast knew that Peter was bluffing, and it seemed to smile. At least, its lips pulled back to reveal long, jagged whiteish yellow teeth that were dripping with saliva and the longing to sink into it's first victim. To finally fulfill his purpose, his curse, and bury his fangs into the boy's skinny arm.

The beast crouched down on his mighty haunches, his fur standing up on end in excitement. Finally. Finally...

"PETER!" the trapdoor was flung open, plowing into Peter and pushing him straight at the beast, who roared with delight and opened it's jaws to receive the boy. Peter felt the heat of the beast's foul breath on his leg, causing his leg hair to stand up on end. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pain. There was nothing he could do now.

Just then, someone cried out, "STUPIFY!"

a jet of red light hit the beast square in the chest, and he froze in his place, jaws still waiting for that first bite of Peter Pettigrew's leg.

Peter turned to thank his rescuers. They had come back for him!

But he was shocked to see that his savior wasn't his friends, as he had thought, but Professor McGonagall. To say that she looked terrifying would be an understatement. No words could describe the power and the terror that radiated from the woman as her chest heaved and she held her wand still pointed at the beast. At her feet, two heads looked up at her in awe. James and Sirius.

"You three had better come with me," McGonagall motioned for the two gawking boys to make room for her and Peter to come through the trapdoor.

From that day forward, there was a bond between McGonagall and Peter that Peter had never had before. McGonagall could have easily been killed by the beast too, however easy she had made the rescue look. And yet she still came back for him.

And so, perhaps, Peter learned the lesson that friends can be found in the most unlikely of places, in the most unlikely of persons...

However. This lesson would grow warped overtime, and little did they know-even little to Peter's knowledge- it had already begun to change as he watched his two 'best friends' as they walked side by side in front of him and McGonagall.

His two best friends.

His two worst enemies.