Traitorous-Friend-Indeed (II) [Chapter 279]

~~Hogsmeade, Scottish Highlands~~

Peter Pettigrew arrived outside the Hogsmeade village with a loud crack and started at the village wistfully before his gaze finally shifted toward the silhouette of Hogwarts in the distance… He sniffed mournfully as he started to reminisce about his school days. Those were the days. He missed those simple days.

He would admit that he only became a part of the Marauders because they were the biggest meanies around and he knew that they would keep him safe, but by the time he graduated from Hogwarts, he started to enjoy their company. He would have preferred if everything remained the same, but it was never to be.

The Dark Lord was on the rise and Peter knew in which direction the wind was blowing… Peter was loyal to the Marauders, but his loyalty was mainly tied to his own security. Later, when he realized that the Dark Lord was probably going to win, he went running to him, so that he could join the Ranks of the Death Eaters.

Peter was Pureblood even if their Family was not in the major leagues, so he knew that they were going to welcome him. However, that wasn’t all, he was also a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and when he revealed that he wanted to become a spy for them while receiving his Mark from the Dark Lord himself, he was welcomed into the fold.

Everything was going well for him… The Dark Lord was winning, the Ministry was barely managing to hold on, but then the disaster struck… The Dark Lord was defeated by a year old babe… Peter was so angry that he wanted to kill the boy himself, but he knew that he needed to escape and he also knew that the Dark Lord was not dead, not truly.

He had seen the disembodied Dark Lord escape through the roof, so he quickly grabbed the Dark Lord’s Wand and decided to escape…

Now the Dark Lord was back once again… Peter winced at the reminder of ghost pains. He had been regularly treated with the Cruciatus Curse and he wasn’t getting used to the pain no matter how many times the Dark Lord used the Curse on him. Sometimes, he wondered if it was really wise of him to join the Dark Lord or not.

He stared at the silver prosthetic hand… Yes, it was a fully functional hand, but it lacked the sense of touch. Peter knew that the loss of sense of touch in one of his hands didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, but he felt like he had lost a part of himself. Well, now it was too late to reconsider the choices he made in his life.

The Dark Lord was a cruel and sadistic man who reveled in the suffering of others and Peter was all for it if his survival was assured, but now the Dark Lord couldn’t even beat a 14 year old boy… Peter wanted to drop everything and escape to some corner of the world, but the Mark on his arm made it impossible for him to escape the clutches of the Dark Lord.

The Dark Lord would find him and then the Dark Lord would punish him… That was a fate Peter wanted to avoid at any cost…

With no other choice, he simply released a sigh and started to shift into his Animagus form. He knew that he simply couldn’t stroll into Hogsmeade as he was still a wanted man and he clearly noticed two Auror teams patrolling the village. The village wasn’t small, so he would be able to slip past them without much difficulty, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

After giving Hogsmeade another look, Peter in his rat form started to scuttle toward Hogwarts as he decided to move past the village instead of making his way through it. The Dark Lord had given him the mission to acquire an artifact from the Come and Go Room. It was not a Room he was familiar with, but the Dark Lord was gracious enough to tell him how to access the room.

It took him a bit more than half an hour to scuttle past the Hogsmeade village and arrive in front of the Shrieking Shack… Old memories started to flash over inside his mind, but he shook his head to clear his mind. After taking another moment to regain his bearing, he bolted toward the shack in his rat form.

Right now, Hogwarts was closed, pending repairs and that made his task a lot easier as he wouldn’t need to worry about getting caught by Albus or Minerva… The old girl had tried to make a snack out of him a couple of times when the both of them were in their Animagus forms. However, he knew that he still needed to be careful.

Peter entered the Shrieking Shack and started to make his way toward the passage under the Shack leading to Hogwarts ground, but his whole body trembled in panic when he heard a pair of footsteps. He quickly scuttled behind the demolished couch and decided to wait. He was afraid that he might have triggered some alert Ward or something.

“I can’t believe you think the Shack is a romantic place!” A feminine voice complained loudly and Peter sighed in relief. He was worried for nothing. It must be a couple looking for a private spot for some intimate and steamy action. However, he was weirded out by the fact that someone would bring their lover to the Shrieking Shack to fuck.

Maybe, the Shack was the only private spot remaining in the village since people were in a celebratory mood. Whatever the reason, Peter decided to enjoy the show… It had been quite some time since he had done the deed and the years of hiding as a rat had not been easy for him. He missed going on raids and forcing himself on to someone.

With his beady eyes glinting in glee, he peeked out from behind the ruined couch only to find two glowing green orbs staring back at him… “Hello, Peter…”