Chapter 36

"Do you know what's hard?" said Adria with a frown on her lips and a sigh tumbling soon after the words fell from her mouth, "everyone always talks...y'know about friends drifting apart from each other after high school and I mean yeah we had so many friends, but I just...I didn't think it would be two from our group that we have drifted away from."

"Yeah." Marlene nodded in agreement. Her blonde hair was pulled into a bun with half of her hair curled around her shoulder, she looked older and somewhat brighter, but she was sadder, too, "I guess...well, I guess there's an excuse isn't there? I mean Mary is just...terrified, she doesn't even want to fight because of how big her family is, and Dorcas moved away anyway so that friendship was bound to go haywire."

"I just hope that when this is all over, it will go back to normal," Lily piped in, "I hope that we can see our friends again. That we don't need to look over our shoulders in public."

"We will get our happy ending, Lils." Adria smiled, leaning over to squeeze her hand comfortingly, "and for now, we are planning your happy ending!"

Lily laughed softly, nodding her head with her smile still evident on her lips, "James is with the boys getting his tux because he wants to dress muggle like apparently, but I just...well obviously it's not some big spiel but I do want a nice dress."

"Y'know May used to be a seamstress before she opened the shop I believe - or was it her mum?" Adria stopped to think, "no! It was both, May knows what she's doing so she could even make your dress for you?!"

Lily perked up at that, her lips tugging wider with a smile of almost relief that flushed through her whole body, "do you think she'd do that for me?!"

"Well, I can always ask her," Adria grinned, "and I don't think she'd ever say no!"

"Thank goodness," Lily breathed, "I didn't know what I could do!"

"What about your dress to the ball back in fourth year?" asked Marlene, "that was lovely!"

"Yes, but," Lily trailed off, "I don't think there's any possibility of it fitting me."

"I'll ask May tomorrow." Adria patted Lily's shoulder, rubbing her back comfortingly in passing to the kitchen where the boys were, "don't worry, Lils!"

"We were just talking about you!" Sirius beamed at the sight of his wife, pulling on her hand so that she would fall into him regardless of her protests, "I missed you."

"Sirius, I was in the living room." she giggled, "you could have come and seen me."

"You see each other every second of the day!" Remus exclaimed, patting Peter's head who was lying on his shoulder from complete exhaustion. He had told his friends he had taken up more hours at work just to make ends meet with Thea's lack of a job. It wasn't her fault that she couldn't work, with baby Eva it was hard to think of leaving him - especially when her parents and Peters' were getting older and she didn't want to put such responsibility on them.

She didn't fight in the order either, and when she did leave her house she was completely wary of having Eva with her. It drove her crazy to ever think of what could happen to her family, and with the news she had to tell Peter, she wasn't sure if she could cope.

But she had Peter, and regardless of how much he worked - he was incredible with his child. He loved his family more than anything in the world and that was the god honest truth, and his friends were his family too.

Everything he did...it was for them.

"Are you alright, Peter?" asked Adria. She was really in to refill her mug of tea, but Sirius had somehow managed to pull her thoughts from her task and to him which wasn't at all surprising and after she glared at Remus' comment, she was much more concerned for her friend.

"He's exhausted," said James almost angrily. He had offered money countless times to Peter and Thea but much like all of their friends, they were too proud to admit defeat and just take it, "he's out at all hours, bloody hell."

"Pete, do you want to get some rest?" asked Adria, leaning over to pat his arm, "come on...let me take you to the spare room."

"I'm fine, Ads," he muttered grouchily, "really, I'm fine."

"You're not fine, Peter," Adria persisted, standing up with a worried look in Sirius' direction and pulling Peter up who stumbled into her, "come on, please. Just...just sleep for at least an hour."

The strike to his gut was too painful to even comprehend but instead of elaborating on how fine he was, he allowed her to pull him with her through the living room and up the stairs of their home.

"Y'know," he mumbled incoherently, his words slurred and his arms around her, "I love you, Addy."

She giggled softly, pushing the door open to the nearest spare room, "I love you too, Pete. So much."

"Everything..." he trailed off, "I do it all for my friends. For Thea."

"I know." She nodded, "you're exhausted because you're working so much."

"No, no, no." he fell onto the bed, and looked up at her with tears in his eyes, "I...I'm sorry."

"Peter, you do not have to be sorry for working too hard," she whispered softly and fixed the blankets around him to make sure he was even more comfortable, "now get some rest alright?"

He paused for a few moments, just staring at the girl who did so much for him; who had always been there through absolutely everything and wondered...but he couldn't. So, he nodded his head silently, reached over and squeezed her hand and allowed the tears to fall freely when she turned and left the room.

He did everything for his family.

-

"You foolish boy!" the man bellowed with a sense of harshness that Peter had heard many times. The pain struck his cheek and then his body and he wondered if he'd ever truly get used to such a curse when he had gone through the torture of the cruciatus curse more times than he could count.

Insanity was next, he knew it.

"I...I'm-" he cut himself off when the blood spluttered in front of him, "I'm sorry...my lord."

The robes floated around the floor walked by the man in front of him, with a look so powerful that Peter quivered under the intensity. He could remember the first time when they had surrounded and captured him, and all Peter could think about was how much he couldn't die.

He couldn't leave his Thea behind to care for their child alone, he couldn't crumble under the release of death when she had to fight for her life without him.

But now it was much more than that. After minor tasks like spilling locations or muttering pleads of safety for his wife; it was different now. He had tried with all he could to keep the order safe when he told a lie and told them a location false to where they were, and the punishment received was pain unimaginable.

But the threat placed upon him was something pain could not live up to.

After the first task succeeded, the twisted lord had used Peter's head with his own talents that Peter could not live up to. He wasn't strong enough to hold the shields when the Lord penetrated his mind and got the thoughts for himself.

And realised just how precious his friends were to him.

So, Peter's real task was to keep out of the way, to keep what he did a secret and if he didn't then he would know and not just Peter would be dead.

His family would be too.

That was the extent of why he couldn't tell those he loved what was happening; because right now, he was fine to die for himself. He couldn't care less if he died because death was a lot less painful than betraying his friends.

But he stayed alive and pushed through it for the lives of his friends.

He could remember when the lord used the name, Jude. When it fell from his lips and the boy struck Peter's mind with the toothy grin the boy had when he called him Wormy, and when he'd lift his arms up to hug him tightly.

The boy loved Peter with all of his heart, loved to play with him and when he threatened the child's life, Peter knew that he couldn't risk his friends, he couldn't risk any of it.

Giving up locations that he knew his friends could fight for their lives was a lot easier than giving up their lives on a silver plate.

"Apologies." A dark laugh erupted from the man's throat, and Peter knew he was getting made fun of. It was quite obvious that he didn't care, that he never would care if Peter apologised or not because the pain would still come, and Peter would still be left exhausted and haunted by his own mind that gave him up.

"Tell me...Wormtail." Peter's mouth fell open at the use of the nickname given by his friend, there was an ice-cold bite to the tone and the use of that name he had grown to love when used by his friends, "or would you prefer...Pete?"

His fists clenched tightly at his side. He had answered back plenty of times, but none seemed to matter when the pain struck him regardless, "your mud blood friend has a knack for calling you that."

A growl erupted from Peter's lips that allowed loud laughs to wheeze out of the death eaters around the man towering over his quivering body. The word, that word was nothing but vile and Peter knew that regardless of his own cowardice, he didn't want to die at the hands of a man who cared for nothing but himself.

"I care for power, boy," the Lord said with a twisted smile curling his lips, "I care about the lives of purebloods."

"Now tell me," he said, a wand clutched tightly in his hand, "the next location, boy."

It took Peter too long to answer with his teeth biting hard on his tongue to stop himself from giving up, but he let out a loud screech of pain when the wand pointed at him and the curse returned to fall over his body.

He couldn't breathe, and he could feel his mind giving up on him like inside his head his brain was fried. It was painful, so painful but the only thing that left his mind was shrieks of pure utter torture that he couldn't move from.

His wrists were tied to the wall behind him with chains charmed with magic if he even so tried to move he would be shocked with a buzz of magical electricity to keep him grounded in that exact spot.

"One hour," the lord growled in his face and pulled the wand away from him. Peter didn't understand why his life was still spared, that he was still alive even after the lack of information came out of his mouth.

But he was valuable.

He just didn't quite know how valuable he was, to his friends and family and to all who wished to fight for him; many would fight for him.

"You have one hour." The look of darkness that clouded over the man was an unimaginable sight of pure power and fury, "and if you don't tell me the next location when that hour is up-"

He cut himself off to allow the twisted smile to return, he was enjoying every second of the torture and pain he caused, and with another wound to Peter's face with the use of his wand, he said, "your lovely little girlfriend will die."