Friday 21st September 1973

Quidditch Pitch 18:30

James sighed heavily and shuffled his feet on the ground impatiently. He hadn't got much of a chance at actually practising today. Peterson had been too busy coaching the new members of the team. They had lost their Keeper and a Chaser this year, Flitton and Docherty had graduated the past summer. So, new people had to fill their places. Well, not completely new.

Sirius came to a skidding halt overhead and looked expectantly at Peterson for feedback. The older boy easily obliged.

"Not bad, Black, but you're going to have to come to a stop faster if you don't want to fall off your broom when you hit a bludger."

"I lost control when I turned," Sirius explained.

Peterson nodded approvingly. "I saw that. You regained control fast. Keep up the practice and you'll be hitting bludgers on turns in your sleep."

James saw Sirius swell up with pride at his feedback and he beamed for his friend. Sirius had really been working hard this last year, trying to prove himself against the older students. And it had paid off. Peterson hadn't felt the need to hold try-outs for the open Beater position and just yanked Sirius from reserves. He had been over the moon. So had James, somehow it was a lot more fun with Sirius actually being on the team. Even though he had been there for all the practices James had been. This year, they were actually going to be playing real games as well. It was going to be amazing!

"Weasley, I swear to Merlin..." Peterson's grumble interrupted his thoughts.

Ah, it looked Duncan was complaining again. He was the only Weasley on the team that did that. Actually, he was the only Weasley on the team now that John had graduated. James thought he had heard that he was working in the Portkey Office now.

"I don't see why we have to have a bunch of squirts on the team."

He had literally said that at least four times today. James didn't completely understand why, it wasn't like any of them were first or second years.

"We've been over this, Weasley," Peterson said with an annoyed sigh. "There's too many Upperclassmen on the team. Especially from our year. We need a few younger ones so that the team doesn't lose all its experienced members in one fell swoop."

"Hmpf."

That explanation did not impress Duncan one bit. Actually, he was glaring even more now. Miserable sod.

Peterson rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't be complaining. At least Sirius was a reserve last year so he knows how you fly. We need to basically retrain us Chasers because Fawley has a completely different style that what we're used to."

Fawley zipped around like a squirrel on a caffeine high he meant. It was kind of terrifying to see his year mate in the air. James had to admit that he could pull off sharp turns really well despite having an older broom. It was a bit intimidating. Oh well, James knew he would just have to practice all the harder to keep up. And he didn't really mind that.

Duncan was still complaining. Shockingly. Not. James swore the older boy took delight in complaining. He had to, he did it often enough.

"We're going to get laughed off the Pitch for having a girl Keeper."

"Hey!" Prewett complained. "I'm a girl."

"Yeah, but you're a Seeker. That's fine. Girls can't be Keepers," Duncan said derisively.

"Obviously they can or Peterson wouldn't have picked Philips," Sirius told him.

"Eva's a really good Keeper," Prewett defended.

"You're only saying that because she's your friend."

"But she's not mine," Peterson said firmly. "I picked her because she is the best."

Philips puffed up with pride at that. Peterson was very good at making people feel good about themselves. It was cool to watch him give people that little bit of confidence.

"So, shut up and make sure the girls and squirts don't show you up," Peterson finished with a tone of finality.

That tone wasn't to be messed with, unless you liked doing endless laps around the pitch. Which no one in their right mind did.

Thankfully, Duncan showed the first bit of sense of the evening and just gave a final grumble before shouldering his broom.

"Come on, Black!" he called over his shoulder as he walked to the centre of the pitch.


Sunday 23rd September 1973

Inner Courtyard, 11:50

Frank stretched just before he started the small ritual. Then another Mabon would be done. A less tense body meant that everything flowed easier. In his opinion anyway. It was going to be rather lonely, as usual, but it was the same for anyone without siblings. It was times like this he still got pangs of homesickness. He'd never been able to celebrate Mabon properly with his parents. Okay, yes, he'd gone through the motions of the ritual when he was nine and ten but he hadn't hit his first magical maturation yet so it didn't count.

"Frank! Frank!"

That was an extremely familiar voice, though he hadn't heard it calling for him like that for the better part of a year now. Possibly a sign of James growing up a little.

"Frank!"

"Hello, James," he replied with some amusement as he watched James run up to him, out of breath.

"I've been... shouting... for... for ages," James puffed out, cheeks bright red from his exertion.

Well, that was a bit embarrassing. Frank must have really been lost in his own thoughts. Though, in his defence, it was incredibly windy. Especially in the courtyard where the wind positively whistled around corners.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you."

"Well, I didn't think you were deliberately ignoring me," James replied cheekily.

Frank rolled his eyes.

"Don't tempt me." James pulled a face. "What did you want?"

What had all the initial urgency been about? Actually, why couldn't this wait for later? After the Mabon ritual. It was best to do it at noon, James knew that.

Inexplicably, James suddenly went all bashful and looked down at his feet, not saying anything.

"What is it?" Frank repeated a bit more impatiently and none too subtly checking his watch. Seven minutes!

"Um-"

"Can we sort this out later? I want to perform the Mabon ritual at midday," he said bluntly.

That made James' eyes widen and shake his head.

"That's what I wanted to talk about!"

Was he confused about something? Did he need help? He gave James an expectant look, hoping that he could sort the younger boy's problem out quickly. Five minutes!

"Uh, want to perform the ritual together?" James asked almost shyly.

Frank stared at him.

"I mean, I know normally you just do it with your family and it's not really a big deal but our families are Allies so that means we're practically family and-"

Ok, he couldn't put up with James' babbling any longer so Frank rudely interrupted him by holding up a hand.

Not that that stopped James, he just kept going. And going and going and going.

He was actually kind of touched that James would want to perform the Mabon ritual with him. The lesser Sabbats were meant to be more intimate, really just for family. They were meant to be peaceful and bring about a feeling of togetherness. The fact that James wanted to do that with him really said something. Frank actually felt a bit guilty for all the times he had complained about the younger boy.

Speaking of the other boy, he was still babbling on about his reasoning. He was starting to repeat himself.

"James!"

Finally, that got his attention. James literally stopped all motion at that order, mouth open and eyes wide like he had just been stupefied.

"Yes?" he squeaked out, puberty taking a jab.

"I would be glad to," Frank answered warmly.

James didn't seem to take his answer in at first as he just remained frozen in place. Frank was about to poke him when he shook his head and directed an even more wide-eyed look at him (if that was even possible).

"Really."

"Yes."

It did make sense, if Frank thought about it. And this way they weren't alone for a change.

"So, you really want to?" James asked again.

"Come on," said Frank, making a beckoning motion. "Let's do this together."


Thursday 27th September 1973

First Floor Corridor, 11:00

A shower of parchment and quills fell to the floor on top of the books that had just landed there. Alice felt like she could cry. Somehow, she had managed to grab the wrong side of her bag and upended its entire contents onto the floor. This couldn't be happening. She had to get to Ancient Runes and she couldn't be late. She couldn't miss any of it.

Everyone was milling around her, also trying to get to their classes. No one was paying any attention to her except maybe throw a giggle in her direction. None of which was helpful. And she would quite like some help.

Actually, she needed it because the people going back and forth was generating a breeze which was making her pieces of parchment flutter around. She couldn't lose any of it!

Tears welled up in her eyes and her lips started to water. Alice took a big sniff, trying hard to not let the tears fall. She didn't need another horrible nickname.

Another pair of hands entered her vision and grabbed the quills that were just out of her reach. Alice jumped back slightly and looked up. It was Lily Evans.

"Looked like you needed a hand."

Alice could have wept in relief. Even though she knew it was completely ridiculous. Just, no one had been helping and she had been stressed and things just weren't going well.

"Thank you," Alice said quietly as she got everything into a pile.

"No problem," Lily dismissed. "Here, let me help."

She held Alice's bag open so Alice could easily shove everything in somewhat neatly. At least everything was now in her bag and not on the floor. Though, her favourite quill was now all bent. The only casualty out of all of this. Something to be thankful for but it had been her favourite quill.

"I think that's everything," Lily said, handing her a few pieces of parchment.

She didn't know why the red head was helping but Alice was glad she was. And she hadn't said one mean thing to her - though that was more Marlene's thing than Lily's, now that she thought about it.

"What have you got next?" Lily asked her, oblivious to her thoughts."

"Ancient Runes."

Lily looked impressed. "Cool. I heard that there was a lot of memorisation."

"It is hard," Alice offered, feeling that she could be truthful with the other girl. "What do you have?"

"Spell Crafting. That's on the same floor so I'll walk with you."

"And save me from falling books," Alice teased.

She didn't know where that came from but it felt right to do. Lily laughed so it must have been okay.

"You've got it."


Saturday 29th September 1973

Second Floor Corridor, 15:30

Remus was unashamed to admit that he was addicted to chocolate. It was just so good and smooth and tasty. It was the perfect snack. Make that food. He, personally, felt like he could live off chocolate. Especially Honeydukes chocolate. That stuff was the best. Which is why he couldn't wait until they could legitimately go to Hogsmeade. The first trip of the year (and their supposed first trip) wasn't until next week. That was far too far away. Especially since he had done the unthinkable and run out of chocolate. That just wasn't on. So, he had suggested a sneaky trip to Honeydukes. It was really the only option he had here.

His fellow Marauders had all been for it, obviously. It was a bit of marauding. It was in the name. And who could turn down a trip for chocolate?

They only had a slight problem. Because it wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend it meant there were a lot more people about. Sneaking past the witch was going to be difficult. Remus was sire they could do it. They were very good at being sneaky.

"Oh!" James suddenly said. "I almost forgot."

Remus exchanged puzzled looks with Sirius and Peter who both shrugged in return. The three of them turned to James only to see him rummaging around his trunk. Which he had still yet to fully unpack.

"Where is it, where is it?" he muttered, throwing things out of his trunk.

It only added to the mess in his area but Remus had given up caring about it. As long as it didn't encroach on his space. Or started to smell (thank Merlin for House Elves that's all he was saying).

"How has he not lost more things?" Peter asked in amazement, nudging... something with his foot.

"I have no clue," Remus replied, shaking his head.

It was one of those miracles, he was convinced. There was no other way that James could find all of his things.

"He got a Prefect to teach him the summoning charm," Sirius told them with a shrug.

"Isn't that a fourth-year spell?" Peter asked in awe.

"It is," Remus said with a nod. "Though it's not that difficult, especially with small objects."

He'd tried it a few times. Mostly when he was being lazy about looking for his quill or other little things. It was a mistake to summon his inkpot when he wasn't fully concentrating. It smacked him right on the forehead. Thank Merlin no one was with him in the library when he did that or else, he never would have lived it down.

"Ah ha!"

James took his head out of his trunk, pulling something out with him. It was something smooth and shiny and, Remus sniffed the air, smelt decidedly old.

"Is that-?" Sirius gasped.

"Yes," James replied smugly.

"Wow," Peter breathed reverently.

Remus felt like he was missing something here. And he didn't often feel like that.

"It's an Invisibility Cloak?" Sirius stated questioningly.

"Yes," said James, a proud smile on his face.

Now it was Remus' turn to belatedly gasp. An Invisibility Cloak? Really? Wow. Those were really, really rare. Like, extremely rare. He never thought he'd see on never mind be able to touch one. They were also very, very expensive. Way out of his budget. Way out of most people's budget. Even some of the wealthy purebloods. That fact that James had one, well-

"When did you get it?" Sirius demanded, running his fingers through it.

It was weird seeing his finger disappear and then reappear.

"Dad gave it to me before I left," James admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Said I was old enough now."

"Cool," Remus said, impressed.

Mr Potter was like that though. Wanting things to be used and getting equally as excited as them about stuff. He was fun.

"Why didn't you tell us about it?" Remus asked, feeling slightly hurt that James had kept something this big a secret from them.

James normally shared everything with them, usually to the point of oversharing. So that fact that he didn't share this was more than a little weird.

A sheepish look came over James' face and his head ducked down guiltily.

"I forgot."

"How do you forget to tell us about an invisibility cloak?" Peter demanded.

"I got distracted!"

Remus snorted. If that didn't sum up James, he didn't know what did. His friend would forget to get dressed in the mornings if they let him. He almost had gone down to breakfast without his trousers before. Sirius had wanted to let him but Remus wouldn't have it. They had to at least pretend that they were civilised. He had, however, let James go down with mismatched shoes. He hadn't realised until their second class that day which was both exasperating and hilarious.

"Sure," Sirius said disbelievingly.

"I did!"

Then the two of them were rolling around on James' bed (which might actually make it tidier), trying to smother each other with pillows. It was funny to watch because there just seemed to be limbs everywhere. All of them seemed to have gotten gangly over the summer, hitting growth spurts. Well, maybe not Peter. He was still kind of short. Either way, it was a funny sight.

It was when a head had been bashed into the headboard for the third time that Remus decided to break it up.

"How did you even get an Invisibility Cloak anyway?" Remus asked loudly over the flailing arms and legs.

That made them both stop, pausing them in the hilarious position of Sirius' head hanging off the side of his bed and his hair almost touching the floor while James straddled him with a pillow on top of his head.

James shifted himself backwards so that he was off Sirius, jumping when the pillow fell in front of him, and grabbed Sirius' arms to pull him upright. The two idiots almost banged their heads together but thankfully avoided that. Narrowly.

"It was my dad's," James said proudly, jumping off his bed and holding the cloak up again.

That made Remus look at it suspiciously. That was very old for an invisibility cloak.

"And it still works?"

"Of course! It was his dad's before him and his dad's before that!"

He even wrapped himself in it up to his chin to demonstrate this little fact.

Remus was pretty sure that invisibility cloaks were, well, not meant to be invisible anymore after that amount of time. Though this quite clearly was. James' bobbing head was testament to that.

"Wow," Peter said in awe, reaching out to poke James.

He must have got James in the stomach or something because he winced and pushed Peter's hand away from him.

"I am still here, Pete. Just invisible."

"Sorry," Peter blushed and removed his hand but quickly went back to looking admirably at their friend. "You can't see your body at all."

"That's kind of the point of an Invisibility Cloak, Pete," Sirius said with an eyeroll but he also looked and sounded somewhat impressed.

"Can you see your body, James?" Remus asked interestedly.

James looked down and shook his head.

"Nope, can't see anything."

"Neither can we," Sirius replied after circling him.

"Didn't you just say that that's kind of the point of an Invisibility Cloak?" Remus pointed out.

"I was just reassuring him!"

"I was thinking we could all get under here and then we won't have to worry about people seeing us going to the one-eyed witch!"

That was actually a pretty good idea. It would prevent people from stopping them too. There was just one little problem...

"Will we all fit under that?" Remus asked sceptically.

A cloak was typically designed for one person after all.

"Oh yeah," James nodded eagerly and beckoned him over. "Come see."

Remus stepped forward and James threw the cloak over him. It felt just like a cloak on him, only made with very expensive material. It was so smooth. Almost slippery.

"Step closer to James," Sirius instructed. "You've got a whole leg sticking out."

Remus adjusted himself and Sirius nodded at his shoulder. Probably because he didn't know where his head was, which was weird but so very, very cool.

"Pete next," James said excitedly, his breath hot on the back of his neck. "Then Sirius."

With a bit more messing around and more trodden feet than Remus thought was possible, they all got under the Cloak with no limbs poking out. They thought so anyway. If he stretched out his arms so that the cloak was draped over them it more than covered them. Enough so they didn't have to be attached to each other -far more comfortable.

"Perfect!" James said happily, clapping his hands. "Take it off."

Remus made sure to fold the cloak (as much as he could when he couldn't see the damn thing) before putting it on James' bed.

All four of them were grinning like idiots. This was exciting! Think of what they could do by being able to become invisible!

"So, I was thinking that this way we could get to that statue and into the passage without being seen," James explained.

"It would be fine if we could just tell if someone was approaching the corridor," Peter complained.

"Well, we can't," Sirius said. "We can't see around corners or keep track of everyone."

"So, chocolate?" Remus said hopefully.

That was the most important thing, after all. And definitely the best use of an Invisibility Cloak.


Wednesday 3rd October 1973

Gryffindor Table, Great Hall, 08:15

'ANOTHER MUGGLE FAMILY ATTACKED. THE FIFTH THIS YEAR' was what greeted Frank as he slipped next to Julian on the bench.

"Another?" Frank asked, helping himself to a piece of toast.

"Huh?" Julian peered over the paper in confusion. Frank waved towards the front page with his butter knife. "Oh yeah. Awful isn't it?"

Niles, who was sitting across from them, shook his head.

"I can't believe that it's been five this year."

"Some people are just awful," Frank agreed.

Honestly, you had to be some sort of low-down scum to attack muggles. They were pretty much defenceless against magic after all.

"My father said that Muggle baiting was on the rise," Russel MacDonald said self-importantly. "Driving the Department of Magical Law Enforcement crazy."

"My father said that the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office had to refer it to the Aurors," Frank told them.

"That's because that Office is a joke, isn't it?" MacDonald said with a sniff.

Frank rolled his eyes. Calling it a joke was a bit strong. It was necessary when people were lax with what they had enchanted and let it get into Muggle hands. Of course, it was a bit silly to refer violence against Muggles to that Office, but still.

"It was because they originally thought it was a case of Muggle baiting," Frank said.

"Still could be," Niles pointed out. "Just gone wrong."

"It seems to be something more than Muggle-baiting," Josie pointed out. "Muggle-baiting doesn't usually end up with the Muggles being dead."

"Sometimes it does," Niles argued.

Josie shook her head. "Not on purpose. It's usually an accident. Those," she pointed to the paper. "Those were murders."

An uncomfortable silence fell on them. Frank shifted in his seat. Not exactly appropriate breakfast conversation, was it? At least the picture on the front page wasn't of dead bodies, Frank didn't think he could cope with that. It had a strange skull picture in it instead.

"Can I see?" Frank asked Julian.

"Sure," and he passed the newspaper over to him.

"It says it had they had that skull mark over them again," Frank read from the article.

"Gang mark," Julian instantly said. "They're marking their territory."

"You read too many old detective stories," Niles chided.

"The Prophet says it's the same gang each time," Julian pointed out defensively.

"The Prophet always exaggerates everything," Josie dismissed.

"But it reports the truth!"

"Hey, it describes how they were killed," Josie read from over Frank's shoulder. "It says that the man had deep gauges in his chest front neck to-"

"Can we not read such gruesome things at breakfast?" Jasper complained, ladling some porridge into his bowl.

Frank folded the paper and pushed it aside. "Sure. It's nothing to worry about. The Aurors will catch them and they'll be with the Dementors soon enough."


Thursday 11th October 1973

Gryffindor Common Room, 19:30

There was an essay for Charms that James had barely started (despite it being for tomorrow) but wasn't doing anything to it. It was just so boring which meant it was very, very easy for James to get distracted.

First, he just stared at the fire - watching the flickering flames and the odd spark jump out but never touching the carpet. The safety charms around it were too good for that to happen. Fire was very interesting to watch, you could just let your mind drift off without even realising it. Perfect for when you were just starting to learn Occlumency as mum had taught him.

But then something caught his eye. Mainly because he had originally thought that it was a stream of fire coming from the fireplace but it wasn't.

"Was Evans' hair always so shiny?"

"What do you mean, James?" Peter asked, looking over where she was sitting with her friends.

"Don't stare at her!"

They couldn't stare at her! She might turn around and see them all looking at her and freak out! He didn't want to do that!

"What are you on about James?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing."

"That didn't sound like nothing," Remus said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, it was."

There was nothing important about Lily Evans' hair. Especially the way it shone in the firelight. Nope. Not important at all.

"He said that Evans' hair was pretty," Peter said.

James glared at him and folded his arms. The traitor! Sirius gave him a big grin.

"Oh, really?"

"Well, it is!" James said defensively. "It looks like flames."

All the boys turned to look at the girl and question and slowly started nodding.

"It does," Remus agreed. "Almost the exact same shade of orange."

"Her hair isn't orange," James scoffed.

The very idea that Evans' hair was just orange was preposterous. The idea of it! Oranges were orange. Pumpkin juice was orange. Evans' hair was far more than orange.

"It looks like flickering flames and the leaves on the ground," James explained and then added for clarity, "The orange ones."

"Well, we didn't think had hair looked like the green ones," Sirius said with a sarcastic eye roll.

James pouted at them. That wasn't funny! Evans with green hair would just be silly. It wouldn't be her at all. Not that she'd look bad with green hair. No, she could pull it off. It just wouldn't be her. Evans had red hair.

"Didn't you just say her hair wasn't orange?" Peter asked.

"... Shut up."

His lovely, best friends just chuckled at him for that. Some friends they were.

James shook his head. Why was he thinking about Evans' hair? It was just hair. Very pretty, very shiny hair but still hair. He wasn't Sirius. He didn't care about hair. Except Evans'.

No! Hair was hair. Nothing more about it. He rummaged in his pockets.

"Anyone up for a game of Exploding Snap?"


Wednesday 17th October 1973

Library, 16:00

Tonks tried really hard not to giggle, wanting to see how long it took her friend. Unfortunately, she couldn't control herself, especially when Chryssie turned her book on its side to read a diagram without noticing her.

However, the giggle got her attention. More than just got her attention, in fact, it made her jump off her seat.

"Tonks!"

"Finally see me, huh?"

Chryssie sat back on her chair and glare at her.

"I'd see you better if you weren't sneaking around!"

"I don't sneak," Tonks scoffed.

She didn't. She was too clumsy for that. Loud noises tended to follow her due to falling over all the time.

"SHHHH" Madam Pince scolded.

Both girls jumped, not even realising that she was behind them.

"Now, she's sneaking," Tonks whispered.

Chryssie nodded in agreement.

"What did you want, by the way," Chryssie asked in an extremely quiet tone, not wanting to be scolded today.

Tonks stared at her blankly, trying to remember why she was in here in the first place.

"Oh yeah! Did you want to go for a walk outside? Around the Lake or something? It's dry for once."

It had been raining all week and Tonks thought if she didn't get outside, she'd go crazy. Walking to and from the Greenhouses didn't count as being outside. Especially when you had to run as fast as you could so you didn't get drenched.

Chryssie looked put the window doubtfully.

"It's getting dark..."

"It's only starting to," Tonks argued.

The light was just starting to go out of the sky. Still light enough for a walk. If they were quick. Or ran. Probably ran.

"The sun's still out," she added helpfully.