Sitting in one of the corners, Petter couldn't help but think that his friends and the people here shared a history with him in some way. At some point, they had all saved his life, whether before or during the war, making it all the more painful. Being considered as a possible godfather for his friend James brought a single tear to his eye, whether out of pride for the friendship, guilt, or jealousy for James choosing Sirius over him. In the end, he drowned himself more in drinks and isolated himself further in the corners; this was supposed to help.
After the presentation and the baptismal rituals of little Harry, Lily finally went upstairs with him. The child had been very restless that night and needed to rest. She tried to take the drool-covered lion plush from him, but the child had other plans. He clutched it tightly and fought his mother to keep it, using his only effective weapons: tears and a cute face. It was unfair to Lily.
Meanwhile, the guests interacted with each other. Vincent, on the other hand, enjoyed it as best he could, conversing with Sirius, James, and other guests. Marlene seemed particularly happy to give him some attention, but he had more important things to do than just entertain a beautiful lady.
He finally strolled around, talking to the guests, and eventually made himself known to Petter Pettigrew.
"Mr. Pettigrew, how have you been?" Vincent asked with a social smile, extending his hand for a handshake.
"I'm fine, Mr. Vegas," he accepted the offered hand with nervous and clearly uncomfortable movements. He asked suspiciously, "But why are you here?"
When the hands of the two men touched, without either of them knowing, a small demonic mark invaded Peter's hands, drawing Vincent's emblem on it so quickly that it went unnoticed. Besides, demonic energy was completely alien to wizards.
"You're one of my friend James' closest friends, and of course, I had to come here to meet you," Vincent's soft and genuine voice incited interest and disarmed people. "Especially a man like Peter. I've heard so many interesting things about your bravery... and loyalty."
Peter shivered, becoming even more suspicious of this friend of James, especially due to his lack of a background. Tom Vegas had never smelled right to him.
"Okay, thank you, Mr. Vegas," he said politely, avoiding eye contact with Vincent.
On the other hand, the other man didn't seem at all bothered by Peter's shyness, sitting very close to him and intentionally invading the poor rat's personal space. He pretended to notice Peter's frightened behavior and gave his forearm a pat before finally moving away.
"Forgive me, you're not used to this closeness."
"It's okay, it wasn't bothersome," he said with an almost ashen face.
Both continued to interact, sharing stories, mainly focusing on "Pettigrew's heroism" during the war, until they were interrupted by a clearly drunk Sirius, holding a Firewhiskey bottle in one hand and bringing another glass.
"Tom, you have no idea how you saved my night by bringing these little beauties... burrrp." His speech was disjointed, lacked fluency, and showed no regard for etiquette.
"Man, you're here with Wormtail, a great friend of mine... school days," Sirius struggled to communicate as he took sips from one of the two glasses or tried to drink from both. He even shared stories from their past.
"You should've seen the time he had his first kiss... we were in the third year, and Wormtail had a crush on Mary, but he didn't know how to approach her, so he begged me for help. Being the good friend I am, I made a deal with her. She agreed to be with him after I kissed her. Of course, I had to help my friend, so we kissed, and it escalated to more. The cheeky girl even gave me a B***J**... and right after that, she went out with Wormtail. That was my best prank that year... but don't tell him."
Peter's face darkened, and he looked incredulously at Sirius. "Damn, that's why she had that strange white strand coming from her... Sirius, damn it!" In anger, he drew his wand, ready to curse his friend in fury.
"Easy, Peter, don't do anything stupid; he's drunk and talking nonsense," Vincent stepped in to be an obstacle to Peter's attempt to hit Sirius.
"After a few days, I finally had the opportunity to see Wormtail complaining that Mary had a strange taste in her mouth."
But to Sirius's luck and his drunken mouth, the rest of the partygoers noticed the tension, especially James, who came running.
"Calm down, Wormtail, what are you doing?"
"Lower your wand, Pettigrew."
"What the hell is going on?"
People finally intervened, but Peter showed no signs of calming down. In the end, he looked at James. "Did you know about what Sirius did to me, with Mary?"
James barely managed to contain a spontaneous laugh. Then, taking a deep breath, he replied, "Calm down, Wormtail, we were young..."
Peter's face lost all emotion, and it lit up. He raised his wand and then lowered it, running away from there. James tried to chase after him.
"Wormtail, we need to talk, calm down."
"Damn it, James, not now!" After speaking, he dashed into the street.
Vincent watched all of this with wide-open eyes; the scene was hilarious, to say the least. He knew about the Marauders' pranks, but this was too much, even for Sirius. He looked at Sirius, who seemed completely oblivious to what was happening.
"Where did... Wormtail go?"
Of course, after this flop, people gathered around James to console him, and then the party started to disperse until only a very drunk Sirius and the Potter couple with their son remained.
"I'll say my goodbyes here; it was a pleasant evening despite everything. Thank you very much," Vincent said, smiling at James and Lily.
"The pleasure is ours; you are welcome to visit us again when it's more appropriate."
After bidding farewell and leaving the residence, Vincent discreetly dropped a coin with his mark in the garden, adorned with the symbol of a butterfly at rest on a perfect triangle. When the coin finally fell, it blended into the grass, becoming invisible.
To his surprise, when he reached the middle of the street, the house seemed to be concealed again and appeared as if it had never existed, confusing the memory of the remaining party. If he didn't know about the Fidelius Charm, he would find this occurrence very strange—there one moment, gone the next. He took the note provided by James, and as he looked at it, the paper spontaneously caught fire and was consumed. Strange, but that's how the magical world worked.
Although he could still feel the presence of his coin and that of Peter Pettigrew, his purpose with the party had been very fruitful. He was satisfied.
A/N: I've never witnessed this kind of party without a fight, haha. Did you like the chapter?
I'm about to have an extended holiday, which is good because I can update more chapters. Thank you.