Chapter Text
He was only six when he lost his parents. The bad man had taken them away.
Peeta Mellark sniffled and sobbed because his mommy and daddy were gone and now he was alone. He had no family left.
“Are you alright?” the neighbor girl, Katniss, asked him.
He shook his head no. “No family,” he shrugged, in feigned indifference which was ineffective as tears continued to flow down his splotchy red cheeks. But even his six-year-old self knew his life would take a big turn after that incident.
“It’s getting late, come with me,” the little girl said and pulled him by his hand. He sniffled as he looked back at his broken and wrecked house for a few moments and followed the girl with the dark braids to her house.
Her house was everything his used to be. Warm, furnished, smelled of nice food and filled with people’s voices. Most of all, it wasn’t broken and messy like his was.
“Oh sweet boy!” a blond woman sobbed, pulling his small frame into her arms. Even though he wanted to be strong, Peeta couldn’t help but cry because the woman looked so much like his mom and smelled like lavender - just like momma did- and he wanted her back. He wanted her to tell him she and dad were trying to prank him as they did sometimes, that they were okay and let him snuggle in their bed at night.
But they didn’t come back, and with them, took a part of Peeta Mellark’s little heart.
Time passed slowly. The food was tasteless, everything was too quiet. He couldn’t sleep in the soft bed for the last two nights. He fell asleep after crying for a long time, but tonight, sleep just wouldn’t come.
“Peeta?” he heard Katniss ask and he sniffled in response, feeling sad and tired but unable to sleep.
“Can’t sleep?” the girl asked, climbing in bed with him.
He shook his head no.
“C’mere,” she said, and he willingly went and laid his head in her lap.
“Can you sing? Momma used to sing when I couldn’t sleep and it helped,” he asked and Katniss nodded.
“ Deep in the meadow
Under the willow
A bed of grass
A soft green pillow… ”
Her voice was sweet and the song was nice, nice enough that he found himself yawing, and soon, he fell asleep.
The last thing he heard before he went to sleep was, “I am here for you, friend, you don’t have to be sad. We can be your family now, me and daddy, and even mommy.”
---(15 Years Later)---
“You called for me, your highness?” I ask my mother and she purses her lips. That’s nothing new; she is always mad at me for some reason.
“Yes, I did. I have something important to tell you, Peter,” she says and I nod, asking her to continue.
“Times are changing, the two worlds of magic and non-magic are colliding and as the royal family, it is our duty to do whatever it takes to ensure the protection of our kingdom against these dark forces,” she says and I nod.
The subject of magic is considered taboo in our kingdom, just like anything else we humans don’t possess. But something is happening and it must be bad, because if it wasn’t, my parents, the king, and queen of Capitol, wouldn’t feel the need to ask for any sort of help.
“That is why we have arranged for you to marry a girl from a respectable family of witches and wizards.”
“You mean, you have arranged to have me married away without even telling me, let alone asking me if I wish to participate in such a union?” I mumble, frustrated. I don’t care I just cut off the queen mid-speech, I totally wouldn’t mind being thrown in the dungeons for disrespecting her. Arranged marriage? What does she think this is, the eighteenth century?
“I will not marry this witch you have arranged for me,” I tell her resolutely and she laughs. She just laughs.
“Oh no, dear boy, you have no say in this. For this is the king’s order. And we have ironed out all the details which means there is nothing anyone can do except go with the arrangements. The girl is quite pretty herself and it’s not like you’ll ever find yourself a capable wife on your own,” she sneers and I flinch.
“And you’re not the first or even second in line to the throne so you should be grateful you’ve been given this wonderful opportunity to provide the kingdom your royal service. Heaven knows you’re useless.” That was a low blow, even for her,
We all know she was plucked from a poor village because she was what my dad wanted. And of course, he always got what he wanted, even when he was just a prince.
And just because I haven’t dated or jumped in bed with anyone, doesn’t mean I can’t find someone willing. If she doesn’t know that, she’s blind to her surroundings.
“That’s all. Spend the day however you wish, because as of tomorrow, you’ll be a married man! ” she claps and I stifle the urge to grit my teeth. She’s really intent on going through with this huh?
“May I be dismissed?” I ask, trying to keep the anger out of my tone and she waves a hand in my direction, clearly too busy to even dismiss her son.
“Tell me again Peter. You really want to go through with this? You don’t even have a half-formed plan!” My twin sister Madge yells, exasperated. I place a hand over her mouth to silence her. We don’t want anyone catching wind of this.
“What do you want me to do? Offer myself up for slaughter? You know me Madge, and you know I can’t live a loveless, unhappy life!”
“I know that Peter, but please, use your wits. It’s already becoming more and more dangerous with the magical creatures coming here. We could benefit from the arrangement. Think of it. Do you want so many humans to suffer because you’re a hopeless romantic?” she asks, sounding exasperated.
I am beginning to worry about my twin sister. It’s like she just switched her views from ‘do what makes you happy’ to ‘sacrifice your happiness and entire life for the kingdom’.
“Madge, please,” I plead and see the fear in her eyes and then I see it. To her, losing me to an arranged marriage is better than not knowing how I am or even if I am alive.
I pull her into my arms and she sobs silently. It doesn’t take long for her to compose herself like we have been taught since childhood. She stands up straighter and looks me in the eyes. “Promise me, Peter, you’ll write to me,” she begs and I give her a soft smile.
“I will. But Madge, don’t think I can send you a letter every day. I will send one whenever I can because I’ll be too busy running far away to write letters. I don’t want us to get caught,” I tell her and she stares straight ahead, deep in thought.
“How about…we use false names!” she says.
“So what is-“ she cuts me off with an excited squeal.
“You’re Christine and I will be Lauren!”
“Really?” I ask and she nods.
“Whenever you send me a letter, if asked, I can say I have a friend who has traveled far away but we want to keep in touch. You don’t have to write anything incriminating, just tell me how you are, a quick description of where you are at the moment, and add a few small things like scenery or whatever,” she explains and I smile widely.
I gotta give it to her, with the way I will be constantly moving, this plan will seemingly work without me getting caught. My parents never liked any of her friends anyway. To them, everyone is below our rank and Madge is known to be friendly with everyone irrespective of their rank and nobility.
“How will I get out with my backpack?” I ask her and she smirks.
“Leave that to me brother.”
I run as fast as I can in the direction of the forest knowing it will be the best form of cover if I am chased. Not that I will be, Madge made sure to drop her pregnancy bomb and everyone in the castle has been going crazy. Crazy enough to not notice my absence six hours before my wedding.
I run and run as fast as my legs will carry me, which is proving difficult since we don’t have to run that much in the castle.
I run for what feels like hours until I reach a frozen clearing. I think I’m finally in the clear, but I realize too late that the clearing is surrounded by floating black-cloaked creatures that I have never seen before. They must be the magical creatures that have been attacking the kingdom. They don’t seem the least bit friendly. I turn to creep back slowly, but I step on some dead leaves first. Of course! The one time I want to use my stealth is the one time I am exhausted as hell and can’t move quietly.
Freezing in my place, I pray they ignore me, but they all turn toward me.
It’s as if they are one being, all of them descend on me, taking turns as they start sucking something I can’t identify - but definitely important- from me. I am breathless and feel like everything is gloomy, sad, depressing and a myriad of other bad emotions-
"Expecto Patronum!”
I feel relief seeping into my exhausted body before everything goes black.