Thursday 24th April 1974

Ravenclaw Common Room, 16:30

Kingsley looked down at his notes and frowned. That didn't make sense. That didn't make any sense at all. Where on earth had he got that from? He rummaged through his stack of parchment, coming up blank. Scratching the back of his head, Kingsley frowned again. He had to have got it from somewhere, right? You just didn't make facts up out of thin air. Not when you were a Ravenclaw, that was more of a Gryffindor and Slytherin thing. Sure, Ravenclaws came up with all the weird facts but they referenced them. No matter how obscure the reference was. So, they weren't exactly making things up. Rediscovering them, more like.

Which is why he needed to know where he got this fact from. How was he expected to pass his exams if he didn't know that? Not that it was an important part of the syllabus or anything but still! There was no way he could focus unless he knew.

Ah ha! He had that big textbook up in his room! It was from that, he bet. With that thought, Kingsley ran up to his dorm to grab it. As well as another few books. Never hurt to be ready for exams.

He dumped the stack of them on the table he had claimed and was about to flop down when he frowned again. There was no way he had enough quills there. Back up to his dorm he went.

"I don't have time for this," he muttered.

"Forget to do an essay?" Quigley teased as he ran past him.

Not an unfair observation. Ravenclaw, despite being the House where all the intelligence was, also was the House that had the highest rate of hastily done essays. There were just usually so many other much more interesting things to research than boring, old homework topics.

But homework wasn't what he was concerned with at the moment. How could he be when there were exams coming up?

"What's with him?" asked Savage as Kingsley ran past his two year mates again.

"He said something about exams, I think," Quigley answered.

What were they doing wasting time? Didn't they know that there were exams coming up? Was he the only one in his whole House thinking logically?

"Ah, he's finally got bitten by the exam anxiety bug," an older student said knowingly.

Kingsley glared at the older boy. See, Ravenclaws, although known for their intelligence, weren't exactly exam driven. Oh, they did their best and all that but most of them didn't lose sleep over them, not when there were more interesting things to lose sleep over. Of course, you got your extremely stereotypical swots and bookworms. Stereotypes existed for a reason after all. But mostly Ravenclaws didn't get more than your average exam stress.

Except times like this. See, there was a running joke in the Common Room that people selectively and inexplicably got exam anxiety. Even those that didn't get it before. And normally for no good reason. But people would wake up one day and stress about exams for about a week and then it would pass onto the next person and go around the House like that. There had been some thoughts into whether it was a curse or an enchantment or maybe even something put in their drinks but all their research had come to naught. Impressive when you had dozens of rabid researchers at the helm. It was just one of those weird quirks of Ravenclaw. An annoying one at that.

Kingsley supposed he should be glad it hit him when it was actually near exams. Sort of. It had hit McKinnon last year in September. Which was just annoying because there were no exams then. The he had burnt out even though it was his OWL year. He seemed to do okay anyway.

Not that that mattered when he had his own exams to worry about! Exams he was in no way prepared for.

"Does anyone know where my Herbology textbook is?" he asked out loud.

He couldn't remember seeing it for quite a while. He'd been sharing with Savage and Quigley during lessons and thankfully Professor Sprout hadn't caught on yet.

Monday 28th April 1974

Library, 16:00

Severus looked around carefully as he edged himself through the Library. He didn't exactly want anyone to see him at the moment. He needed some time to think and people coming up to him wouldn't help.

Ever since he had started brewing Potions for people, they wouldn't leave him alone! And it wasn't just for potions for him to brew, they were trying to talk to him about other stuff as well. Like homework. And interests. And studying together. It was all very annoying. He didn't care about those things. He was quite happy to be left alone and doing some brewing when he needed some money, people didn't have to be nice about it.

All this meant that if he wanted to be by himself, he had to be sneaky. He was good at being sneaky. Which was why he was currently creeping into the library. One of the places you would think you'd be left alone but no. He had actually had his homework interrupted for moronic requests. Hence the sneaking. He got more than a few odd looks from what looked to be a group of Hufflepuff first years but he didn't care. They were just Hufflepuffs. They didn't bother you if you glared at them.

That got him past the first row of book and the set of normal table and chairs. Severus let loose a sigh of relief. He should be able to get to some of the single tables at the back without any bother now.

Eyeing the Restricted Section longingly as he passed it, Severus laid claim to a chair in a shadowy corner. It was just out of reach of the light streaming in the window, just how he liked it. Perfect.

Settling himself into the solitary chair, he took out his Herbology textbook to make it look like he was studying. He needed to start revising anyway.

He let his mind wander back to what Lestrange told him. The man they had given his potion to had been very impressed. Even said that he had a real gift! Of course, Severus suspected that but it was always good for it to be confirmed by someone else. An adult. Someone who didn't have to give students meaningless platitudes (Slughorn).

Maybe he would ask Severus to brew more Potions. That would be good. More complicated ones would obviously be better, proving yourself never stopped at one potion. It was a pity he couldn't see the results of his potion upon ingesting it. He wanted to know if that change, he made changed the potency at all. His feedback hadn't mentioned anything of the sort except that the man had been pleased with his abilities. Which was enough for now, he supposed. Maybe he would get more feedback if he brewed more. Would it be impolite to suggest potions?

Thursday 1st May 1974

Gryffindor Third Year Girls Dorm, 07:30

Lily was staring at her best friend in exasperation and fascination. To be exact, she was staring at her legs. Which would be weird if you didn't take into account the whole situation here.

"I still don't see how you can wear socks."

Because that's what Marlene was doing. Wearing socks. Which meant she had bare legs. Lily rubbed her own, covered, legs in sympathy.

"It's basically Summer."

"It's May. In Scotland."

"Exactly. Pretty much Summer."

Lily shook her head in fond exasperation. Marlene really was something else.

"You can't wear winter clothes in summer!" Marlene complained.

"You can if it's still freezing!"

Lily didn't think that she was ever going to get used to the weather up here in Scotland. It could really be horrendous. And deceiving. Like today. It looked beautiful outside, bright and sunny, but if you opened the window to breath in the nice morning air you basically hired the inside of your nose with the cold. There was no way she was exposing any more bare skin that was necessary to that.

"It's not even cold," Marlene scoffed.

"It is!"

"I thought you were from the North of England? Aren't you supposed to be used to the cold?"

"It's not as cold as this!"

The temperature back home in no way compared to the temperature at Hogwarts. Or even the weather.

"Coward!"

"Excuse me for not wanting to get frostbite."

"Now who's exaggerating?"

Lily threw her hands up in exasperation. She was never going to win this argument. Marlene was just freakishly able to stand the cold.

Marlene grinned at her and waved her socked feet in the air.

"I win!" she declared.

Oh no she didn't. Lily would prove just how ridiculous her friend was.

"More girls are wearing tights than socks," she told Marlene.

"No way!" Marlene shook her head and then needlessly added, "You're wrong."

"Am not."

Instead of arguing, a smirk that Lily was starting to learn was a dangerous expression appeared on Marlene's face."

"Only one way to find out, isn't there?"

Monday 4th May 1974

Gryffindor Common Room, 21:00

"This is not on," James declared as he flung himself next to Remus on the sofa.

Remus raised an eyebrow but didn't bother replying. James was going to tell him whether he asked or not.

But he didn't. Annoyed that he didn't get the reaction he wanted he huffed loudly and folded his arms. Quite a pathetic image. At least he wasn't pouting because that would just put him firmly in the ridiculous category.

"Detention is stupid," James stated when no one responded to him.

"Are you just out?" Peter asked, looking at his watch in confusion.

"Yes. Finally.

James grumbled something that was sure to have shocked his parents if he had said it in their hearing. Remus shook his head and chuckled. It was always funny hearing James and Sirius use less than polite language, it almost sounded wrong in their posher accents.

"Sirius got out ages ago, where on earth have you been?" Remus asked him.

Sirius had swirled through and gone straight to the showers. Something about the smell of old potions residue and bedpans being all over him. He must have flopped into bed because he hadn't heard from him since.

Again, James grumbled something but even Remus didn't pick what he said up. Which meant he was just making angry noises. Rolling his eyes, Remus stuck his nose back in his book. All he was going to get was a litany of complaints if he pried any further. Best to let him calm down and then ask how his detention went.

Unfortunately, Peter didn't seem to get that message and was on the receiving end of a litany of complaints. Half of which didn't make any sense. Remus shook his head. Peter really should know better by now.

And, sure enough, after about two minutes James managed to collect himself enough to talk like a normal human being.

"Filch hates me," James finally announced.

"He hates all of us," Remus told him. "Mainly because we track mud through the castle."

Which they were getting better at remembering to not do! The trick was to get in the habit of wiping your feet immediately when you came inside. They weren't always good at remembered but it was a work in progress.

"He especially hates me."

"What did you do to him?"

"Why do you immediately assume that I did something to him?"

Remus and Peter gave their friend disbelieving looks.

"I didn't!"

He huffed and folded his arms, bottom lip poking out into a pout.

"All I did was spill the bucket of soapy water I was using! It was an accident!"

"Surely that helps you with scrubbing the floor?" Peter questioned.

"Exactly! And I didn't mean to get it all over his feet!"

Remus and Peter stared at him.

"What?"

"You dumped water over Filch's feet?" Remus asked slowly.

"Ew, soggy socks," Peter pulled a face.

"Not on purpose!"

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. Trust James, just trust him, of all people, to soak Filch's feet by accident.

"I assume that he did not see it that way?"

He certainly wouldn't. No one liked wet feet. They weren't frogs.

James huffed. "No."

"Did you say it was an accident?" Peter asked.

"Of course, I did! He didn't believe me!"

That Remus could believe. Filch wasn't exactly the most forgiving of people and he seemed to be eternally suspicious of students.

"The floor was never clean enough for him!" James continued indignantly. "I had to scrub the same spot for the whole time I was there!"

"It is meant to be a punishment, James."

That didn't mean it had to be useful. And it certainly was never fun. That was kind of the point of detentions. They were meant to be awful enough that you never wanted to get one again. Not that the four of them learned that or anything but that was what was meant to happen.

"But that was just torture."

Saturday 9th May 1974

Entrance Hall, 11:00

This was going to be a good day. A great day. Nothing was going to go wrong. It just couldn't! Then why did he feel so nervous and why were his palms so sweaty?

Frank rubbed his hands on his trousers and tried to be casual in the Entrance Hall. He was waiting for Alice to get ready and he didn't want to be pacing around the Common Room. That would just be asking for his friends to tease him. And it didn't look good either. He was supposed to be calm and collected, not a nervous mess. Confidence, Frank, confidence. It was just Alice. His betrothed. He had known her forever. He should not be this nervous.

But he was. Very much so, in fact. He still couldn't believe that he'd managed to muster up the courage to ask Alice, Alice, on a date. It was about time really. He should have done so when she turned fourteen a way back in February (as thirteen was still far too young to date) but he had chickened out. Which was awful, for a Gryffindor too, but he had excused by thinking that everything had to be perfect and planned.

Of which this was neither. Frank sighed. He had asked her on an impulse so it certainly wasn't planned though Frank supposed he could still make it as perfect as he could.

But first he and Alice had to get to Hogsmeade. Which might not happen if she didn't come soon. Was it a girl thing to take an age to get ready? Frank knew he wasn't exactly quick (though from the sound of it he was much quicker than Black) but he did take pride in his appearance. Put a bit of effort into things. But all the girls he knew still took longer than him. Even Elsie now. It was weird. Girls were weird.

They were also very, very pretty he was starting to realise. With their eyes and their soft lips and developing bodies. Frank blushed even at the idea of thinking of them. That was not the sort of thing a young gentleman should be thinking about. Just what would his parents say?

"Hi, Frank," Alice said shyly, suddenly appearing beside him.

He jumped. Where had she come from?

"Hello, Alice," he greeted politely once he regained his senses and needlessly straightened his shirt. "You are looking very pretty."

"You think so?" she asked, twirling the hem of her skirt.

It was a pale blue with embroidery around the hem.

"You do."

She blushed prettily. "Thank you. You look very handsome."

That was nice of her to say, even if it was a lie. Frank could practically feel his ears sticking out too much due to his rather severe combing of his hair.

He gave her a short bow and offered her his arm.

"Shall we?"

Alice giggled and blushed a sweet shade of pink at his formal tone.

"We shall."

The Three Broomsticks, 12:00

They smiled awkwardly at each other but didn't say anything. Not wanting to fidget with her hands, Alice put them in her lap - out of sight. What were you supposed to talk about in situations like this? None of her lessons at home had ever prepared her for this! All they had done was teach her how to be polite, how to engage properly in conversations at a dinner table and how to politely move the conversations away from uncomfortable topics. But nothing about how to act on your first date! What good was all those etiquette lessons if it didn't cover that? All she knew, from her mother, was that she should never talk over her boyfriend or blatantly disagree with him. That was just bad manners. It was also common sense.

But it was hard to figure out what rules and conventions she should be following since he wasn't talking. No lesson she could recall covered that. What was she supposed to bring up? Was she supposed to bring anything up at all?

Thankfully, their food arrived before it got any more uncomfortable. They slowly ate their lunch, apparently neither of them knew what to say to each other. Alice chewed thoughtfully, watching Frank. He was so handsome with that long nose of his and his lovely thick hair. She kind of wanted to run her hands through it but that was far too forward. That and she was across the table from him and that would be awkward.

"So, uh, how have you been doing?" he asked after dabbing his napkin at his mouth.

"I have been doing well," she answered politely. "Yourself?"

"Also doing well."

Merlin, they sounded like they were reciting from a script. Which, she supposed in some ways they were. She certainly was. Alice had been instructed on how to act with different people for years now. Mother considered it one of her most important lessons. Too bad she didn't go into detail about boyfriends, just glossing over it with the statement of "make him happy" which she couldn't exactly do if he didn't talk.

"This is awkward," Alice blurted out, immediately feeling her face go bright red.

Oh, why had she said that? That had to be the worst thing she could ever say! What was Frank going to think of her now?

Apparently, he thought she was funny because he was laughing. Well, chuckling and shaking his head.

"It is, a bit, isn't it?"

Alice knew he was trying to be sweet and helpful but his comment just made her feel more embarrassed.

"And silly," he continued. "We've known each other since we were, what? Five years old?"

"I was five, you were six," she whispered, a small smile on her face.

"Yeah, so forever. And suddenly we can't talk to each other? Silly, right?"

Okay, maybe it was a bit silly. Between her nerves and Frank trying so hard to be sweet, Alice let out an anxious giggle. Frank smiled gently at her.

Talking came a lot easier after that.

Tuesday 12th May 1974

Gryffindor Third Year Boys Dorm, 20:00

"I did it again!" Peter wailed as he entered the dorm.

Sirius looked up disinterestedly from his book, one Remus had given him - The Pickwick Papers - which was quite good. Funny even. He hadn't realised muggles could be so funny. But back to the very distressed Peter in front of him.

"What did you do again?" he asked in a lazy tone.

Lose his homework? Spill something down his front? Stutter in front of girls? These were things his shorter friend did with alarming frequency.

Peter said none of these things. In fact, he didn't say anything at all. Instead, he opened his mouth wide and pointed at it. There was nothing in there. Damn it!

"Again?" Sirius asked, shifting his own mandrake leaf to the corner of his mouth to talk.

He tried not to talk too much at the moment because everything came out kind of slurred in his effort to keep the damn mandrake leaf in his mouth.

They had finally managed to source the ingredients needed for the Animagus Transformation. A little bit optimistic? Probably. But surely it was better to be prepared than not? And speaking of prepared, it was a good thing that James wrote down an extra zero on the mandrake leaves order (a hundred instead of ten) because they were going through them at quite a rate. It was so difficult to keep it in your mouth, who would have thought?

Remus just laughed at them and said that it would be easier if he and James didn't talk so much. Admittedly (though not to Remus) he and James had accidentally lost more of the leaves than Peter did. Mostly due to talking.

"I spat it out by accident!" Peter moaned, flopping himself face down on his bed.

Sirius stared at him. That was a new one.

"How did you manage that?"

Peter gave him a sheepish look.

"I thought I ate a fly and just spat automatically."

He scrunched up his nose. "Lovely."

"I almost got to two weeks," Peter said mournfully as he went to the box where they were keeping all of their Animagus Transformation stuff. It was hidden behind some loose bricks by Remus' chest of drawers.

"Impressive," Sirius told him honestly.

That was the best any of them had managed so far. But they were always improving, except for that incident that Sirius had when a bludger nearly smacked him in the face during Quidditch practice. Anyone would have lost anything in their mouths at that.

They wanted to get last this stage before the holidays where they were going to have to be talking to people. Their families would find it pretty strange of they barely talked to them. And Sirius knew he would get no end of lectures if he didn't speak properly. Though that would be a very easy way to wind his parents up...

No. He shook his head. Not worth it. What would be worth it would be if they really concentrated on this month-long mandrake leaf nonsense so they had the whole summer to track down a storm. There were always plenty of those over the summer.

Not that any of them would be able to do that at the rate they were failing at this.

"I'm going to aim for exactly two weeks this time," Peter said resolutely, poking the new leaf into the back of his mouth.

"Can you get poisoned from ingesting too many mandrake leaves?" Sirius wondered out loud.

Sunday 17th May 1974

Entrance Hall, 11:30

Severus currently had his arms stubbornly folded and was in a standoff with Lily. She was being utterly ridiculous.

"Come outside, Sev, it's such a nice day," Lily tried to coax him.

"No, thank you," he said stiffly.

What on earth was the point in going outside? There were so many better things to do indoors. Brewing, Reading, exploring. You couldn't do any of that outside.

"Please?"

He shook his head.

"Why don't we brew?" he counter-offered.

It was something they both enjoyed doing, after all. Unlike this outside business.

"We did that last Saturday," she reminded him.

"So?"

Severus could spend every second brewing if he could. Well, that and practising the spells that his mum had taught him. His magic was maturing to a point he could actually cast some of them instead of just using his knowledge their incantations to impress people.

"So, I'd like to do something different."

"We could brew a different potion?"

Severus didn't really want to brew the potion he had repeated all weekend ever again. He had been trying to perfect his technique but he hadn't been satisfied at all. Lily had perfect technique and he still didn't understand how, even after she showed him, he couldn't replicate what she managed. It was rather annoying. But a different potion would still be fun.

Lily sighed at him. "It's such a nice day. We really should do something outside."

But Severus didn't want to do something outside. It was all full of grass and too much sunshine and people being far too cheerful than was strictly necessary. Not to mention the shouting and the running back and forth. He always seemed to get bumped into. It wasn't fun. Why did Lily think that it was fun? Oh, and you could get sunburnt! That definitely wasn't fun.

"No, thank you." Severus said stiffly.

Lily sighed and looked out of the open front door. They had been left open, much to Filch's disgust, because of how mice a day it was. A slight cool breeze drifted in.

"I'll meet you in the Library later to revise?" she asked.

Because they had planned on doing that together today as well.

"Sure," he said in a sulky tone.

Not that Lily seemed to pick up on it because she beamed at him.

"Great, I really need to look at Transfiguration."

With that, she darted away, calling for McKinnon who was walking down the staircase. Leaving him just standing there.

Friday 22nd May 1974

Lake, 16:00

There really was nothing more relaxing than taking a walk by the Lake after classes. Especially when it was so warm you actually appreciated the breeze that seemed to permanently come off the Lake. With a friend it was even more fun. Alice was glad Mary had persuaded her to do this.

"I don't know how they can swim," Mary said, nodding towards a group of what must be first years - they were so small - in the water. "The water is still freezing."

Alice nodded vehemently in agreement. They had tried to paddle in it and had very quickly decided not to after sipping their toes in.

"This is nice, though," she replied.

"Told you," Mary said smugly.

She had been badgering Alice to enjoy the sun for days. Alice finally made time because Mary would just not shut up.

She was about to say something further about how relaxing it was when she was very rudely interrupted by one Marlene McKinnon. Because of course she was. The shorter girl barged right between them without even an "excuse me", splashing them with water.

"Watch where you're going!" Mary yelled after her as Alice took a step back

"Oh, eff off!"

"Really!" Alice huffed.

That sort of language was completely uncalled for. As was the gesture Marlene fired at them in response.

"Stupid High and Mighties," Marlene complained. "Stupid Miss Priss too," she added, glaring back at their two classmates.

"Do you really need to call them that?" Lily asked with a sigh.

It was funny when they were eleven but it was rather childish now. Marlene gave her an indignant look.

"Of course, I do!"

"They weren't doing anything to you there."

"Oh, whatever."

Marlene leaned down and splashed water and her, making her jump back.

"Hey!" she exclaimed in a laugh and splashed back.

Marlene got a glint in her eyes that Lily just knew was bad news. And she was right as Marlene proceeded to jump at her, definitely getting more than their ankles wet. She was dripping from head to toe!

"Marlene!"

Saturday 25th May 1974

Slytherin Second Year Boys Dorm, 14:00

Regulus lay back on his bed in the dorm and sighed. He could do that because no one was there. Most people out enjoying the nearly summer day or doing homework. Which was never done in the dorm, of course. He shouldn't even be in the dorm, never mind on his bed. Mother always said that a gentleman never lazed about. But he needed to clear his head and there weren't many places you could do that at Hogwarts. Especially when you were in Slytherin. Eyes on you all the time.

He just wanted some time where he could drop the mask. Be just Regulus instead of Regulus Black. It was hard being Regulus Black when all eyes were on you. Eyes that should have been on Sirius but he had been dubbed a lost cause by many people in Slytherin. Which meant that he was the one to watch. And he didn't like it. Or need it.

He rubbed at his eyes. He was tired. Tired of school. Of pretending. Of trying to be perfect. But he couldn't stop, could he? Couldn't relax. He was a Black and change was in the air. You'd have to be stupid not to notice it. The Families were whispering and things were happening.

Regulus groaned. This shouldn't matter to him. He had school and homework and exams to worry about. Even though he was doing quite well on those fronts. In the top five last month which was quite good. Now he just had to break into the top three and he would be good. Be his parents' pride and joy.

Getting to his feet, he shook his head. There was no point in moping around. That never did any good and would cause suspicion.

Maybe he could join someone in a game of fanged Frisbee outside. He was pretty sure he heard his dorm mates say something about that.

Wednesday 29th May 1974

Library, 18:45

Remus sighed and rolled his eyes to himself as he heaved a very heavy book onto his table. A book that was becoming far too familiar to his liking but what could he do? He was not going to let his friends kill themselves just because they were being incredibly stupid. Well, more so than normal.

Yes, James had found a few good books on the Animagus Transformation in the Potter Library but that was in no way enough books. Not by a long shot. Especially when he was still trying to persuade his friends that this was a bad idea, as unlikely as he was to get them to agree.

This one at least looked promising. And wasn't at all suspicious when he asked for access to it from the Restricted Section. It paid to be the studious one. 'Advanced Transfiguration', a book that was far too heavy to exist in his opinion. But he had done his research. It should have a whole section on the Animagus Process and, with any luck, a chapter dedicated to mishaps. Even better if there were diagrams. Which there were. Brilliant. Now just to show them.

Uh oh. Remus stared at the bottom corner of the page he had been reading and frowned. His friends were definitely not going to like this.

He all but sprinted out of the library. Well, as much as he could with what was basically a brick under his arm. Thank Merlin for werewolf strength. Because of that it didn't slip from his grasp and he got back to the dorms in record time. He wasn't entirely sure he had exactly articulated the password to the Common Room correctly but the Fat Lady thanked let him in.

He caused mild panic as he burst into the dorm, all of his friends scrambling to their feet.

"What's wrong?" James asked.

"N-n-nothing," Remus panted out and threw the book at his bed. "Read that."

"All of it?" Sirius asked doubtfully, eyeing the size.

"Page... page two hundred and... and seventy-eight."

Why did he run so far again?

"The Animagus Transformation and it's Follies?" Sirius asked, Reading the title. "Really, Moony?"

"The box at the bottom," Remus instructed, straightening up as he finally regained his breath. "The bit on mandrake leaves."

"Yeah, yeah," James said with a wave of his hand. "It needs to be in for a least a month and you take it out on a full moon."

Remus shook his head. "No."

"What do you mean no?"

"I mean that it has to be exactly a month," Remus said, holding his book open at the relevant page to show them. "Full moon to full moon. No more. No less."

"Are you serious?" Peter whined.

It was a sign of how much they were concentrating that Sirius did not make a joke about his name. He was too busy reading what Remus had pointed out.

"No, he's right," Sirius said slowly.

"So, we've done it these past few weeks for nothing?" James complained.

Remus shot them a guilty look, even though it wasn't his fault.

"Looks like it."

Almost as one, all three of them spat out their mandrake leaves.