Peter Pettigrew had had the most amazing Christmas break. He spent the beginning of his holidays talking and talking about his days at Hogwarts until his mother had gotten so bored that she actually threatened to put a Silencing Charm on him. He had been most surprized to receive presents not only from his relatives, but also from his friends this Christmas. And finally after days of lazing around and thinking about school, he was back.

As opposed to what he felt just a month ago, the Holidays made him realise that he actually loved school. He wasn't the brightest or the fastest kid in his class. He wasn't even in most teachers' good books. In fact, when he thought about it, he did spend a huge amount of his time in detention for not being able to do his homework on time. And yet Peter loved Hogwarts- mostly because it was the only place in the world where he had friends.

So when he finally sat down for dinner in the Great Hall with James, Remus and Sirius, he was quite cheerful and feeling right at home. Though looking up and about he realized that the case wasn't same everywhere.

Remus for one looked rather pale and frail, his movements had a weak edge to them, although he was smiling broadly. Sirius and James, on the other hand, were doing a shabby job at hiding their nervousness. Indeed, Peter noticed them exchange meaningful looks more than once.

The next morning though all of this was out of Peter's mind and life at Hogwarts continued as usual. By the second week after the start of term, Peter had gotten himself another detention from Professor McGonagall for blasting a teapot- that he was supposed to turn into a small chest- to shreds and sending its shards flying around the class. Sirius and James were busy creating trouble for Filch, which was something they promised they had kept up throughout the holidays. Remus was still keeping up his image of ideal student and Snape was still being a pain, trying to hex them any chance he got. Things were back to normal.

"Maybe we should put his hair on fire this time," Sirius suggested, looking distastefully at Snape across the Hall.

It was Saturday morning and Snape had managed to get James into a detention by blasting a Gargoyle statue, standing near James, to bits right in front of Filch.

"Maybe you should try leaving him alone," said Remus and took a sip of his pumpkin juice.

"Leave him alone?!" James looked scandalised. Peter giggled inwardly. "After what he pulled this morning? I have half the mind to dump him in the lake."

"Maybe we should dump him in the lake..." mused Sirius.

"Don't be silly," said Remus. "Maybe if you'd just leave him alone he'd stop with all the non-sense himself."

"But-" said James, "-if we teach him a lesson then he'll definitely stop with all the non-sense."

Remus rolled his eyes at the pair of them. Peter snorted and followed the three of them out of the Hall listening to them bicker all the way to the grounds where they all plopped down under a beech tree.

As he gazed around lazily, barely hearing a word of the ongoing conversation about how fun it would be to dangle Snape upside down from the Astronomy Tower, Peter noticed a group of excited fifth years moving towards the Main Gate across the lake. Mark Mason and Hestia Jones were among them.

"Where are they off to?" he said, mostly to himself but Remus had heard him.

"Hogsmeade, I think."

"Shouldn't they be practicing for their match with Ravenclaw?" Peter asked.

"Hey Mark!" James called out. "Shouldn't you be practicing for your match with Ravenclaw?!"

Mark turned around, spotted them and then jogged in their direction.

"Forget the practice. Haven't you guys heard?" he asked excitedly.

"What?" asked Peter intrigued.

"The Shrieking Shack, up in Hogsmeade."

"The what, now?" asked James.

"There's this shack just on the outskirts of the village, all boarded up and stuff. It's said to be haunted by the most violent ghosts ever."

"Wh- what?" asked Remus, turning positively pale.

"How could you not have heard?" asked Mark "Everyone's been talking about it. Great screams of agony and horrific sounds come from the shack at night, or so the villagers are saying. We're all going to check it out."

"Cool," gasped Sirius in awe.

Peter trembled. If the forbidden forest wasn't enough to scare away his sleep, the Shrieking Shack would most certainly do it. Peter spent the entire day listening to James and Sirius talk about what horrific creatures or ghosts that might be living there. By lunch time he was almost too queasy to notice Remus who had gone deathly pale as if he were sick. He guessed gruesome ghosts living next door would do that to any eleven year old. But James and Sirius were unfazed, trying to make plans to sneak out of school and give the shack a visit.

That evening, James and Sirius went to bed early while Peter and Remus were still in the common room doing their Herbology homework. Herbology was one of the few subjects that Peter was fairly good at. They had to write a foot long note on the importance of Asphodel in potion making. It didn't take too long for them to scratch it out. Peter felt quite satisfied with his work neatly done in small letters arranged in straight lines to describe the various properties that made Asphodel an important ingredient in potion making.

He yawned and rolled up his homework ready to head back to the dormitory to see what James and Sirius were up to. "You still haven't done Charms," Remus reminded him as he grabbed another roll of parchment from his bag.

Peter cursed. He really didn't like Charms. Charms, Transfiguration and DADA were his worst subjects. Also the homework wasn't due till Monday and it was only Saturday, he would find time to do it later. "I'm feeling too tired for Charms," he said, stretching his arms as he got up from his seat. "I'll do it later."

He turned around and walked towards their dormitory hoping Remus wouldn't call him back and lecture him like he usually did every time Peter tried to procrastinate on doing homework. He never really said anything to Sirius or James, though if you thought about it they both always had their work complete, even with all the trouble-making and pranking they did.

He climbed up the stairs and placed his tiny pink hands on the door knob but stopped before turning it and opening the dormitory door.

"... can't tell them," came a voice from inside, probably Sirius's. "Especially not him."

As quietly as he could, Peter turned the knob and opened the door slightly so he could hear clearly.

"But it has to be the shack," James was saying. "The resemblance is so uncanny. Boarded up doors and windows?"

Sirius nodded. "Remus would kill us though, if he found out we checked the willow out, he would kill us."

Peter gasped loudly. Both their heads at once snapped towards the door and he opened it, standing still and scrutinizing both of them with his small blue eyes. He was so occupied by the ongoing conversation that he didn't notice Remus coming up the staircase just behind him when he said- "You guys really did it, didn't you? Checked out the willow?"

"You did what?!" Remus said, disbelief and betrayal etched all across his face.

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A/N: The story is moving kinda fast now (as opposed to the beginning of the book). I hope that's not too annoying.

Thank you for reading. Comments and votes are much appreciated! :)