Sirius entered the boys' dorm looking a little traumatized.

"You alright there, mate?" Remus asked, noticing his distraught friend.

Sirius shuddered, thinking of the mob of girls who had hounded him downstairs just now. It wasn't an easy task on top of fighting the memory of a certain Kelpie Jones sinfully sprawled on the ground as she had been hours ago. He had spent the better part of the day banishing that memory every time he remembered her eyes closed in ecstasy.

"Peachy," he replied, a little croaky.

Prongs scoffed darkly.

"Potter," Sirius eyed him warily.

"Black," he replied just as coldly.

"Out with it, then!" Sirius remarked. He just wanted to get the inquisition over with.

"So I see you do have the ability to talk to us," James remarked shortly.

"What do you mean-"

"Must be nice, sneaking around with a girl leaving us all to worry about your strange behaviour. But nevermind that. As long as Sirius Orion Black was getting on with a bird-"

"Shut it!" Remus snapped the book shut. "Padfoot, Prongs is just angry that you didn't tell him. Although I don't know why he didn't listen to me when I told him something was up. You two weren't discrete, really."

Remus pointed a finger at James.

"And Prongs! Sirius clearly has the experience of a troll when it comes to real relationships. They're probably testing it out still and given their colourful history and figured we wouldn't react well. You know well as any of us how he's been pining after-"

"Oi, I did not pine after anyone-"

"- Kelsey for a few years now. Maybe even day one," Remus crossed his arms staring at his two friends.

Both boys contemplated what had been said.

"So you didn't ignore us on purpose?" James spoke up.

"Never. You know you're like a brother to me, mate," Sirius took a step forward. "It's a long story I could tell you when we get time," he shuffled nervously.

"Idiots," Remus stared at the scene unfolding in front of him as the two now hugged it out. One would think they were long-lost brothers. "I'm surrounded by idiots."

"Yes but you forget a key detail Moony, m'boy," James grinned, sending Sirius a look.

"Do enlighten me," he pretended to be interested.

"That we're your idiots," Sirius announced and with that the two jumped him, drawing the poor boy into a group hug.

Their mini celebration was - thankfully - interrupted when Peter came rushing into the dorm.

"It's true?!" Peter wheezed, catching his breath.

"Steady there, Wormtail. Where have you been?"

"Th-That you and Jones?" He looked at Sirius who sent him a Cheshire grin.

"Heard that right. Kelp- er I mean Kelsey's my girl now," Sirius proclaimed proudly.

"B-but I thought it was just a crush," he whined. "She scares me."

"Nonsense. You just don't know her as well as we do," Sirius thumped Peter on the back.

"Lucky sod," James whispered under his breath, thinking of all the times the she-Devil had caused him undue stress.

"Weren't you just telling us this morning that she was somewhat responsible for Lily finally going out with you? Need I remind you of the er, Valentine's date that ended a little too well for you," Remus told him.

"But I'd never tell her that. Her ego is big as it is," James announced to which Sirius nodded along solemnly. Self-awareness was not a skill the two boys possessed.

"Like three peas in a pod," Remus muttered to himself.

"Which reminds me, boys," Sirius rubbed his hands in business mode. "We have a new mission"

"I'd hardly call what we do as missions."

"Tell me we get to do something that leaves a Jones shaped hole in a wall somewhere as she runs for it?"

Remus and James asked at the same time. Sirius replied to James.

"Of a kind, yes," he said mysteriously. "To get her to kiss me.."

"You mean your own girlfriend?" Remus repeated as if Sirius had grown two heads.

"You won't get it. It's a Jones thing."

"'Course it is," James snickered, sending a knowing look at Remus.

"I mean it, I can't lose."

"By lose, you mean-"

"Kiss her first!"

"Your own girlfriend?"

"Finally, you get it!"

"Godric help us all," Remus muttered as he turned the page of his wizarding magazine.

ϟ

It started with a photograph that came in the mail towards the beginning of the school year. At first, Peter Pettigrew hadn't thought anything of it. After all, a picture of his parents wasn't any cause for alarm. Never the sharpest of the bunch, it never struck him to wonder why it wasn't strange to receive unsolicited mail that came with no note.

One thing led to another and eventually, he found himself opening letters containing knick-knacks around his house. He couldn't fathom why his mother would send him random items. To confuse him even more, these letters would never come by morning mail. He found himself being lured away in the evenings alone, often having to come up with an excuse for his absence to the boys.

A few owls asking his mother about the same never earned him any response. Not thinking of it, he had pushed it to the back of his mind as he busied himself with the boys. Nothing really happened till that fated Hufflepuff-Slytherin match.

Absent-minded as he was, he was running late and had been on the way to the Quidditch Pitch. That was until a group of younger Slytherins cornered him.

"Heard from Mummy recently, have you, Pettigrew?" He had stopped in his tracks to see Mulciber sneering at him. He had been sure that he had imagined the dark looks a few seventh-year Slytherins had sent him. Now he knew he wasn't going barmy.

He wanted to ask him how he knew. The younger Slytherins appeared to be in on some inside joke as they watched him with pity-like amusement. That was when Jones had found him.

Frozen in place, he didn't know what to do. Mulciber had slunk back into the shadows like the snake he was before she could spot him. A sick feeling overcame Peter as he found himself lying through his teeth. It was effortless. He never really liked the nasty chuckles she sent him.

Some days later, he got another mail with a proposition. It was his father's ring. One passed down the Pettigrew line and one that he knew his father would never depart with willingly.

The rest was history.

Peter Pettigrew felt someone elbow him roughly breaking him from his thoughts on how he had found himself in this situation. He tried not to wince from the bruise on his side where Mulciber had gently reminded him of what was at stake down by the lake. He then tried to hide the guilty thoughts as he focused on the question that had been directed at him.

"Huh?" was the best he could manage.

Frank Longbottom looked at him quizzically and then back at Dumbledore as they all stood in the headmaster's office.

"The sword..will you be able to securely stash it back in the office?" Longbottom mumbled.

"Uh- yes! Of course," Peter stood at full attention.

"It is important that it be done in my absence. I shall arrange for the same," Dumbledore told him before moving on to the others' tasks.

Half of Peter's mind was already thinking of how he would never be able to reveal to Mulciber all he wanted to know, not under their current secrecy oaths. Time was running out and his only solace was the fact that nosy Kelsey Jones and her friend still hadn't been included.

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Found the pic on harrypotter.fandom.com/