Chapter Text
He was everything. He pranced around rooms with ease, every eye on him. He smiled and every problem would melt away. Champagne flutes clinking, half done up fancy fucking shirts, summer’s in Italy and India, boarding schools with no learning being done, parties every friday and saturday and thursday and even fucking monday night, sex, and snogging, and fights, big brown eyes always illuminated by the fluorescent lights, skinny dipping in the school pool, football games ending in tight hugs and kisses on the forehead, libraries made for him to flirt and not read a single book, motorbikes on the quad, holiday’s in a mansion, his eyes, eyes, eyes, always staring back with a knowing smile.
James Potter was magnificent. And Peter Pettigrew was helpless against it.
It started in boarding school. Peter Pettigrew turned up to the posh Scottish castle-turned-school in his second hand clothes and old shitty car, his mums climbing out the front seat to say goodbye.
He had started a month late into the school year, his absent father not sending in the money for school on time. And the poor, fat kid with the lesbian mums became an interesting piece of gossip.
Which was exactly why James Potter even approached him.
Even at fourteen years old, James Potter shone.
He slid easily into the seat opposite Peter, grinning madly at him, “So, what’s it like having two mums?”
Peter paused, cup of tea halfway to his lips, “What?”
James had laughed, leaning back in his chair, eyes still trained on Peter, “Thank you, I don’t think I’ve heard someone say ‘what’ instead of ‘pardon’ for ages now!”
Peter snorted, “Who says ‘pardon’?”
James smiled, turning his head to the boy making their way over, before turning back to Peter with a laugh in his eyes, “Listen to this div.”
The other boy slapped their hand down on James’ shoulder before sitting down next to him, “Hello, James!” He turned to Peter, “Hello. I'm Sirius, who might you be?”
Peter held back a laugh as Sirius held out his hand for him to shake, “I’m Peter.”
“Splendid!” Sirius announced, “Pardon the intrusion, James is a chum of mine so we tend to dine together. Have you tried the bouillabaisse yet? It’s absolutely divine.”
James flicked Sirius on the head, “You absolute div.”
Sirius frowned, “Pardon?”
James grinned, turning to Peter, “He’s said it twice now, see?” He turned back to Sirius with a look of mock disappointment, “He’s my roommate and best friend. An old money, French Londoner, Pete. How’s a scouser like me meant to bear this? He’s probably related to the feckin Queen!”
Sirius huffed, “I am a descendent of the royal family, the Black’s are nobility after all, however it is distantly related, I’ll have you know.”
Peter’s mouth dropped, “You’re related to the Queen?”
Sirius shrugged, “Of course.”
“‘Of course’, he says.” James laughed, grabbing a slice of Peter’s toast and biting into it before glancing at him, “You don’t mind, do you?”
Peter shook his head, eager to please James.
“Class”, He grinned, taking another bite.
Sirius frowned at Peter, but didn’t say anything.
-
Peter’s roommate was quiet, he tended to keep to himself and avoided socialising with the other students. Which didn’t help Peter’s aim in getting friends. As the weeks went by, the other teenagers lost interest in him, moving onto a rumour about an older student being pregnant. And as Peter’s arrival was no longer the latest drama, James’ eyes no longer landed on Peter. He sat across the room, charming the rugby team with Sirius by his side.
Remus, Peter’s roommate, glanced up from his book, following Peter’s gaze to James Potter.
“Are you alright?” He asked, fingers fiddling the corner of his page.
Peter hummed, staring into his cup of apple juice, “This is going to sound rude, but do you ever hang out with anyone?”
Remus folded the corner of the page, and shut his book, “Um… Well, I hang out with you, don’t I?”
“Only because we’re roommates. We never hang out together in our spare time.”
Remus frowned, “Did you want to?”
“Well, yeah. And other people.”
“Like who?”
Peter glanced over to the table James Potter sat at.
Remus clicked his tongue, shaking his head slightly, “Sorry, Peter. Those lot are a bit… much. I ran into Black on the first day of school and he was a huge prat.”
“I talked to them once, I thought they were nice.”
Remus picked his book back up, “Go try to talk to them now then.”
Peter groaned at Remus’ dismissive attitude. He knew Remus had been sarcastic, but it wasn’t a bad idea. You had to talk to people to make friends. James had approached him first already, surely he could do the same.
He made his way over to their table. And as no one seemed to notice him standing there, he spoke.
“Hi, James.”
The entire table looked at him.
James frowned, “Um. Hi?”
“Sirius”, Peter nodded his head, not sure what to say next.
Sirius tilted his head slightly, leaning back in his chair until it was only on two legs, “I’m terribly sorry, but have we met before?”
The table erupted in hushed laughter. James even smiling.
Peter quickly turned and started to walk away, when James suddenly stood up.
“Lesbian mums!” He shouted.
The entire hall quieted down, glancing over in curiosity.
Sirius snapped his chair forward with a loud bang.
“James!” He hissed, trying to pull his friend back down.
James ignored him, grinning widely and beckoning Peter to sit down, “Peter, wasn’t it? Glad to see you again.”
Peter took the seat, smiling back.
Sirius huffed, folding his arms as he stared at Peter, “Carry on your story then, James.”
“Nah, wasn’t that funny.”
“Oh, I think it was”, Sirius smirked, “Where were you up to? Your rugby coach making you go on public transport, right?”
The table laughed, all but Peter and James.
A large guy, a few years older than them, snorted out, “I would’ve sued.”
Sirius grinned, “Well, that’d be the reasonable thing to do. But James, here, kept his mouth shut and got on that filthy bus. Only to get stuck next to some… How’d you describe it, James? ‘A meff that smelled like a sewer and probably had needles sticking out his arms’.”
James glared at Sirius, “Stop it, I mean it.”
Sirius scoffed, “I’m just finishing your story for you”, he turned back to the awaiting audience of rugby players and a disgruntled Peter, “So then the chap turns to this ten year old kid and has the absolute gall to ask for spare change. And you know what this angel did? He dived right into his wallet, and gave the man a ten pound note, only for the filthy bugger to peer into James’ wallet and demand another ten pound note.”
The table erupted into laughter.
Sirius caught the eyes of Peter and leaned forwards as he spoke next, “James, of course, gave the change straight to him. He just loves helping the needy and desolate.”
Peter quietly tried to move out of the seat, James staring at him, pleading for him not to leave, to no avail. Peter started to walk away.
And James turned to Sirius with an easy smile, “Guess that’s why I’m friends with you then, Eh? So needy for attention.”
The table burst into laughter again, no one noticing Peter’s exit.
“Oh, please”, Sirius laughed with them, “You wound me.”
-
There was a loud knocking on Peter and Remus’ bedroom door. They glanced at each other in confusion.
“Did you end up making a friend?” Remus asked.
Peter shook his head, “You?”
“Course not”, Remus glanced at the door again, “Maybe it’s a prefect checking on people. They said that will happen occasionally during the welcome assembly.”
“Oh, right.” Peter nodded, standing up to get it as another knock came.
Remus stood up first, being closer to the door, “Don’t worry, I’ll get it.”
He opened the door, only to pale at the sight of James Potter standing there instead.
“I’m really sorry about yesterday.”
Remus frowned, hand still on the door, “What happened yesterday?”
James swore, taking notice of Remus standing there, “Is this the wrong room? I swear Frank told me Peter was in this one.”
Remus turned to Peter, opening the door wider for James to be able to see him.
James relaxed at the sight, “Pete. I just came to apologise for yesterday. Sirius regrets what he did, but he’s too stubborn to come here with me. And what he said- that’s not what I think. Of course it isn’t. I just told him that story when we first met, years back, and I thought he was just this snide meff that I had to get along with for seven years and the only thing we’d have in common was being rich gits. But then I realised we had loads in common and I really regretted telling that story, especially using that language. But then we were talking to the rugby team, and the story sorta just slipped out, promise I wasn’t going to use that language though. And I don’t think of you as a charity case or anything, I do like you. You’re real funny and all.”
Peter gave him a smile, “Don’t worry about it.”
“You sure? It was real shitty of us.”
“Yeah”, Peter shrugged, “If you say you didn’t mean it, then I believe you.”
“Alright, sound”, James grinned, before turning to Remus, “Sorry for just gegging in.”
Remus stared at him.
“I’m James”, he smiled.
“Remus”, he replied, sitting back on his bed and opening his book.
“You like reading, Remus?” James asked.
Remus glanced up, “I really don’t like your roommate, Black, so I don’t think you should try to be friends with me.”
James laughed, “Oh, everyone hates Sirius at first. Right, Pete?”
Peter hummed, “He’s not so bad.”
James nodded, “He warms up on you over time. Hey, why don’t you two come over to our room? We’re only a few doors down and we’d love the company.”
Peter jumped at the offer, “Yeah.”
Remus shook his head, “No, thanks. I’m knackered.”
James sighed, “Alright, maybe another day then”, he walked over to the doorway, and started to shut the door, “Have a good night!”
Peter immediately glared at Remus, “Come on. Please can we go?”
Remus groaned, “I don’t have the energy to deal with Black. Can’t you just go yourself?”
“No, he’s asking both of us because he wants you to get along with Sirius.”
“Well that is not happening”, Remus breathed out, turning the page.
“Please, Remus. This could be good, we could have friends.”
“I don’t want to be friends with them.”
“Then at least go and try to piss off Black as much as you can whilst I try to become friends with them.”
Remus glanced up at that proposal.
“You’d be good at it, you’re extremely annoying.”
Remus laughed slightly, “Wow, rude. But the idea of ruining Black’s night is appealing.”
“So you’ll come?”
Remus sighed, shutting his book, “Fine.”
“Yes! Thank you, Remus!”
Peter practically leaped off his bed and ran to the door, opening it wide and spotting James at the end of the hall, just leaving the communal bathroom.
“James”, Peter called out.
James looked up before grinning widely, “Alright, Pete?”
“Remus has changed his mind if the offer is still open.”
“Course it is!”, he walked further down the hall before stopping at a door, three rooms away, “This is ours, come whenever you’re both ready.”
Peter smiled at him until James completely disappeared, shutting his room door behind him.
-
Peter knocked on the door, opened a few seconds later by James.
“Come in, come in”, James ushered them in.
“You’re room’s bigger”, Remus noted. It was practically double the size of theirs.
Sirius scoffed from his seat by the window, “Why wouldn’t it be? My parents paid for half the buildings here, and James’ parents are sending yearly checks towards the sports equipment and up-to-date laptops for the entire school.”
Remus folded his arms, leaning against the door, “So you’re saying you only got into this school because your parents gave them so much money they couldn’t say no, instead of getting in on your merits?”
Sirius smirked, “Well I’d say being an A* student and being fluent in five languages likely had something to do with it.”
Remus froze for a second before gathering himself and rolling his eyes, “Yeah, right.”
“Tu me minoris aestimo. Valde stultum. C'è un oceano tra me e le persone come te. Leggete e leggete per rimanere qui, per mantenere la vostra piccola borsa di studio. Ma io non ho bisogno di leggere un solo libro. Sono intelligente e ricco senza sforzo. Je n'ai pas besoin qu'un étudiant boursier essaie de se battre avec moi. Tu n'as rien à faire ici, garçon-loup. Retourne dans ta ferme de la pauvreté!”
Remus smiled, “Sono per metà italiano… And did you just call me a wolf?”
James jumped onto his bed, “See, look at you two, getting along! Giving each other nicknames!”
Remus and Sirius both snorted.
“What did you even say to him?”
Remus frowned at Sirius, “Your friend is just chopsy.”
James leaned over to Peter, tapping him on the arm, “Come, sit next to me. We can chat as those two bond.”
Peter sat down on the bed, “I don’t really think they’re bonding”, he frowned, glancing as they glared at each other from across the room, seeming to be arguing in Italian.
James shrugged dismissively, “Oh, they’ll work it out. So there’s a party this weekend, if you want to go? Amos is throwing it and he’s a bit of a blert but he throws a class party.”
“I didn’t know we were allowed to throw parties in the dorms.”
James grinned, rustling Peter’s dyed blonde hair, “Oh, you soft lad, course we’re not. But what’s that got to do with anything?”
Peter stared at the other boy, already completely infatuated.