Trust

Potter Castle | June 31st 1977 | 2:00 PM

"I want you to be his godfather Padfoot," James told Sirius while they were taking care of Charlus while Lily was visiting her best friend - Alice Longbottom.

"I'd be honored, James, honored." Sirius was full of grins and Remus who was behind them couldn't help but jest, "Of course it's gonna be Padfoot. Since when did he even know we existed Wormtail?"

Peter chuckled nervously and said, "That's right Remus. He never cared about me- us, he never cared about us."

The castle suddenly shook. James' face suddenly paled and he told his friends, "The castle is under attack. It's the death eaters. We need to escape. Don't care about any valuables."

James felt something was amiss. Why would Voldemort attack the perfectly warded castle with potential order member's unless he knew they were held down by Charlus. More over he would also know that the only people in the castle were the marauders as an attack on Dumbledore would be suicidal.

"We need to escape by splitting up. I think someone else should take Charlus. I think Voldemort knows Charlus is here. Sirius will you do it? Remus?"

"I'll do it," Peter said. "I'll go through the woods in the back. The floo is probably interrupted by the dark mark."

James trusted all of his friends unconditionally. He handed Charlus to Peter and told his other friends, "I'm heading towards the order on a broomstick. I already sent a patronus to Lily and Dumbledore. Sirius and Remus, you go east and use the comets in the shed. Peter, sure you don't want a broom?"

"No, you know I can't fly. Charlus might slip," Peter gave an excuse and said, "The castle's wards might not hold. I will escape immediately."

Peter left the castle on foot. He went through the woods. When he reached the edge of the woods, and came out of the castle wards, he put the child on the ground and pulled up his sleeve, revealing a horrid tattoo of a moving snake. If anyone from the wizarding world saw this scene, they would be shocked, because Peter Pettigrew, trusted friend of James Potter who was a leading figure of the light faction, carried the dark mark, the mark of the followers of Voldemort.

He took out his wand and pressed his forehand where the tattoo was. A few seconds later, few pops were heard as multiple people donning black cloaks and masks apparated there. They nodded to Peter and one of them picked Charlus up from the ground. Another said, "To not raise suspicion, something must happen to you." He sneered.

"Don't kill me!" Peter was very afraid of death. This fear was why he chose the dark side- he believed they would win the war.

"You fool! How would you serve the lord if you are dead. Cruio!" Peter was cruciated multiple times. Then, the death eater stepped forward and snapped Peter's wand. He also took out his wand and cut off his left arm which had the dark mark tattoo. "Diffindo!"

Peter screamed out in pain and fainted. The group took Charlus from the ground, buut he started crying. The leader of the group became irritated and shouted, "Shut up!"

When the crying did not stop, he became very irritated. "Diffindo!"

"Protego."

A shield surrounded the child, but the collision of energy impacted the boy. A 10 days baby could only handle so much.

"Who is it?! Who dares interrupt the business of the dark lord?"

"Nicholas Flamel."

The voice silenced everyone present. Before they could react, a severing charm decapited all of them in an instant.

"You do not deserve death at my hand," Flamel shook his head in disgust. He then picked up the baby and left.

Potter Woods | July 1st | 8 AM

Peter woke up on a bed he knew he didn't sleep in. He looked around and recognized his surroundings-he was in the Hogwarts infirmary. A few minutes later Madam Pomfrey saw that Peter had woken up. She came near him and said, "I will call Dumbledore. You stay put. In the meanwhile try to recollect what happened. Poor man, someone casted the cruciatus on you."

She left Peter to recollect his thoughts. He took the time to prepare his story. The pain residue from the cruciatus was still apparent, but he understood that if his story didn't check out, he would have to explain to an angry James what happened to his son.

A few minutes later, Dumbledore came in with Sirius and Remus. Remus immediately questioned Peter, "Are you okay Peter? We found you like this in the woods with a few death eaters lying dead around you! What happened?!"

Death eaters lying dead around him? When did that happen? Surely the young Charlus couldn't have done it? He would have to check with them.

"Where is Charlus?"

Everyone's faces fell. Peter understood that Charlus was nowhere to be found. He then modified his story a bit to match the circumstances.

"I fought against the death eaters as hard as I could. I have no idea how, but they found me just when I exited the wards. I couldn't apparate because I was afraid that the boy wouldn't survive. So I killed as many as I could, but looks like... looks like I failed James in the end," Peter started sobbing to the end.

While Peter was not a good wizard, he was an exceptional Slytherin. He successfully deceived everyone in the room with his tall tale.

Dumbledore said, "James couldn't bring himself to face you. He decided to go into a secluded place with his wife for an unknown time period. The loss of his child impacted him greatly. I believe he said the day before that he saw his father in young Charlus. The loss of both his father and son destroyed him mentally. I hope you understand." Dumbledore wiped a tear that fell onto his cheek.

"I empathize with James. I was my fault that Charlus is possibly dead," Peter hastily replied to Dumbledore.

The three left Peter to recover from his injuries. Sirius couldn't utter a single word because he didn't know what to say while he battled the emotions of relief and immense sadness. The entire light side was going through a whirlwind of emotions when they heard of Charlus' unfortunate incident.