AN: Glad everyone's enjoying the story so far! We're over halfway through this part of the series now.

Just wanted to thank an anonymous review left by Guest123, it was really nice and I'm glad you're enjoying the Frank/Aloce storyline. There's definitely more of that coming.

Sunday 2nd June 1974

Gryffindor Common Room, 18:00

Alice was panicking. Just a bit. Okay, a lot. She was panicking a lot. Which she knew wasn't healthy but she also knew that she was going to fail these exams.

Yes, she was panicking over Ancient Runes. Again. A recurring theme of this year.

She had been doing well there for a few months. Actually, balanced work and play a bit better. Sure, Mary still complained that they spent too much time in the library but it was "they" now. Mary joined her a lot more frequently even if she didn't do that much homework. But that was all coming crashing down around her as she realised that they were less than two weeks to exams. Two weeks! Yes, she had started revising about a week or so ago but that time was slipping away far too fast. She wasn't going to be able to learn all of this in time. She just wasn't.

"Seriously, haven't you learnt all your Ancient Runes stuff by now?" Mary asked in exasperation from beside her.

"No, I haven't," Alice replied shortly, not looking up from her writing.

She couldn't copy this runic cluster right. It was all lopsided. Proof that she didn't know any of this.

"You promised you wouldn't freak out over it again," Mary reminded her.

"I'm not freaking out."

She wasn't. She wasn't. Freaking put was not something Alice could afford right now. Wasted too much time. Time in which she could be learning.

"You haven't even looked at another subject in three days," Mary told her. "Have you even done your Charms essay?"

"Not yet."

Didn't Mary know that she didn't have time for that? It would get done. It just wasn't urgent right now.

"It's due tomorrow!"

Huh. Okay. Maybe it was a little urgent. It would get done. Later. After this.

"I'll do it, don't worry," Alice replied distractedly.

"Alice!"

"Mary, I'm trying to study here!"

"No, you're obsession. Again."

Oh, Alice didn't have time for this.

"Just leave me alone!"

"I will!"

"Ow!"

Frank suddenly had his arms full of a blonde. Not his blonde, er, Alice, but a different one. One of her friends. Uh, she kind of fell into his arms. And not in a romantic way either. Literally crashed into him.

"You okay?" he asked as he steadied her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Frank!" she exclaimed. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine," he brushed off. "You didn't hurt me."

She was a bit small for that. More like stunned him more than anything else.

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," he reassured her. "What's got you in such a hurry?"

It was more of a strop from the looks of things but that was definitely not polite to say.

"Alice," she grumbled.

Frank raised an eyebrow and was about to ask after Alice when Mary continued talking.

"Maybe you can talk some sense into her!" she exclaimed.

Frank was confused. "Who? Is this something about McKinnon again because I told you, you need to tell a Prefect..."

Mary made an impatient noise and shook her head.

"They don't listen. Say that she's just being annoying and tell her to buzz off. Like that works," she said bitterly. "No. I mean Alice!"

"Alice? What's wrong with her?"

She'd been okay earlier when he saw her. She was in the Library, looking for a reference book. Now, she didn't exactly look happy about it but who was when they were studying? Except for Ravenclaws. Mary didn't look too stressed about whatever was wrong with Alice, in fact, she looked positively miffed. Annoyed even. She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes.

"She's being stupid about Runes again."

That... that didn't make sense to Frank. What did Runes have to with it? Did Mary mean like actual runes or the subject of Ancient Runes? Why did no one speak clearly?

"What's wrong with Runes?" he asked hesitantly, not knowing if he wanted to know the answer.

Girls could get worked up over the weirdest of things. Just the other day Josie had a complete freak out about her quill not being where it was supposed to. Granted, Julian had hidden it but she basically went feral trying to find it.

"She thinks she's going to fail them or something and is just revising that," Mary told him, folding her arms.

Frank raised an eyebrow. That was her problem? That Alice was doing revision.

Noticing his look, Mary tried to explain better. "It's not normal revision. She's forgetting to eat. It's all she does."

Ah. Well, that was different.

"So, can you please talk some sense into her?" Mary said again beseechingly.

He didn't think he had a right to "talk some sense into her", they had only gone out twice. Once by themselves. Did that make them boyfriend and girlfriend already? It certainly didn't mean he could just dole out advice. It might not be welcome; he couldn't read Alice very well yet. Not behind the typical pureblood primness. She probably had the same issue with him as well, it was hard to loosen years of training. Which meant that things could very easily be taken the wrong way.

"Mary, I don't know..."

"She's not listening to me! She needs to listen to someone!"

And she really thought Alice would listen to him? Wow. And it did sound quite serious. Alice shouldn't be running herself down like this. There was really no need for her to get so worked up about studying.

"I'll talk to her," he found himself promising.

Mary beamed at him and impulsively wrapped him in a hug. He patted her on the back.

"Oh, thank you, Frank! I knew you would fix it!"

She didn't even give himself a chance to respond before running off.

Great.

Monday 3rd June 1974

Hogwarts Grounds, 14:00

It just wasn't fair. Really not fair at all. Chryssie heaved her bag onto her shoulder as she trudged across the grass to Herbology. It was an absolutely gorgeous afternoon and she had to be in a greenhouse of all places. It was going to be awfully stuffy and warm and it would even worse because she wanted to be outside! Who wouldn't? Well, maybe not Snape. Chryssie didn't think that she'd ever seen him enjoying the sun.

How could you not when the sky was so clear and the Lake was glittering like that? She shook her head. No. She was not going to skip Herbology. She wasn't. That was bad. Even if it was boring. And she probably wouldn't learn anything because of the heat. No. She was a Ravenclaw. A good student. No matter what the subject.

With a sigh and a last, lingering look at the mirror-like surface, Chryssie turned down the path to the Greenhouse. She was already feeling warm at the thought of it. Hopefully, today was a practical lesson. She might be able to get some water on herself to cool down.

Friday 7th June 1974

Gryffindor Third Year Boys Dorm, 13:00

"Some of us do want to study, you know."

"Pah! You already know it all!" James dismissed.

Remus rolled his eyes.

"No, I don't," he said patiently, holding up his books. "That's why I'm studying."

"You study the most out of everyone in Gryffindor," James exaggerated.

He had to physically stop himself from rolling his eyes again. There was no way he revised more than people doing their N.E. . The very idea was ridiculous.

"Well, you've been doing it for ages," James tried a different tactic. "Maybe you should take a break."

"It's healthy," Sirius added.

Remus was the wrong person to use that excuse on because he wasn't the one who obsessed over everyone's health. That would be James. He actually tried to get Sirius to eat more vegetables every dinner. It was funny.

"It's procrastination," Remus retorted.

"Just a little break?"

"I would quite like to keep revising," Peter said quietly.

He had been hunched over his Defence textbook; Remus knew he had been struggling with it recently.

"You'll be fine too, Petey," James said confidently. "You have a great memory."

"This year is more than just regurgitating facts," Remus pointed out in defence of their smaller friend. "You need to demonstrate understanding as well."

Peter made a panicked noise and James frowned at him. Remus didn't know why; Peter should already know this. All their Professors had been stressing that all year.

"I don't know how to do that!" Peter squeaked.

"I bet you know a lot more than you think," James said encouragingly. "You know all the steps to the Animagus Transformation."

Remus pointedly did not react to that statement. He still thought that they were being really silly - stupid even - and he was not going to encourage that. No matter how much research they did. Or how many mandrake leaves they accidentally swallowed. Okay, maybe he had helped with their research. Just a little. No matter how poor of an idea he thought it was Remus knew they were all stubborn about trying it (there had been arguments). So, he helped them make sense of and condense the instructions. None of them had managed to get past the Mandrake leaf bit and it was the first step!

To be fair, it was hard to keep something in your mouth while you talked even if it was flat. They had tried sticking it to the roof of their mouths which seemed effective but you had to constantly lick it so it stayed stuck. Also, James had got one of his father's many, many Potions research books and it said that the leaf had to be coated in saliva, which was hard to do when it was on the roof of your mouth. So, they tried holding it under their tongue but that was even more awkward and it moved around a lot. It also, somehow, triggered Sirius' gag reflex. Not good. Though, seeing Sirius with bulging eyes was always funny. But at least they started on a full moon this time. Kind of ironic that it was so dependent on the lunar cycles, just like he was.

"I don't know, James," Peter said doubtfully as Remus tuned back into the conversation.

He had apparently missed James trying to persuade Peter that he wasn't stupid. Again. But Remus could see where he was coming from. Third year exams were definitely more important and harder than the previous years. He decided to help him out a little.

"I am in the middle of something," Remus pointed out, gesturing at his book. "I would like to finish it."

"Well, you've been going over that book for ages," James tried. "I'm sure you could take a break."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "I thought we were in agreement not to pull any pranks during the exam period?"

It wouldn't be appreciated at all and it wasn't exactly fair to those revising.

"I know that," James said impatiently. "I was talking more about a Hogsmeade kind of break. Honeydukes, really."

Now that was something he could get behind. Remus closed his book; he had been rationing his chocolate supply recently and that wasn't good for anyone. And neither was constantly studying, he supposed. It wasn't like he wouldn't be going back to it. They were just going to go to Honeydukes and straight back. There would be plenty of time after for studying.

"Okay," he said simply, putting his book away.

James snorted and shook his head. "Brilliant, what about you Peter?"

"Oh, I don't know..." Peter said hesitantly, biting his lip. "I do need to do this..."

"We'll get you a whole stack of sugar quills," Sirius said temptingly. "My treat."

Peter blushed in the usual way he did when James or Sirius offered to buy him anything.

Remus was very much the same way. Their two upper-class, pureblood friends were too generous sometimes. At least he didn't go the same shade of red that Peter did, though. That would be embarrassing.

The offer did make Peter waver however. Just like Sirius (and the rest of them) knew it would. It was a bit unfair but Remus wanted his chocolate so he wasn't going to complain.

"I suppose I need to keep my energy up," Peter said slowly.

"That's the spirit!" James exclaimed, clapping him on the back.

A bit too hard as he fell forward, requiring Sirius to yank him back before he knocked his head on the table.

"Careful!" Remus scolded James.

"Sorry!"

Sunday 9th June 1974

Gryffindor Common Room, 19:45

Alice felt someone sit next to her and she sighed heavily.

"Mary, I told you that I'm trying to finish this."

"Hi, Alice."

She jumped. That wasn't Mary.

"Frank!" she greeted, blushing slightly as she noticed how close they were.

Was this proper? Their knees were basically touching. As if he heard her, Frank shifted himself so that there was a gap between them.

"Do, do you need anything?" Alice asked quickly.

Did he want to talk about their date? Or maybe another one? She would like that. But maybe not so close to exams. But she couldn't exactly tell him no, could she?

"Not exactly..."

Alice frowned. What was that supposed to mean? Frank looked awfully nervous; it couldn't be anything bad... could it? Great, now she was all nervous too. His mouth opened and closed several times, like he couldn't make his mind up what to say. That surely meant that it was something bad!

"Mary says you've been doing nothing but revising," he finally said.

Alice made a derisive noise. It wasn't ladylike but it was called for in this case. Frank gave her an alarmed look.

"Mary's exaggerating. She hasn't done any."

Like, she knew that getting top grades was a bit much - no one liked an overly intelligent or outspoken lady - but to fail was even worse. It meant you were stupid and didn't put any effort into your work and no one wanted that. So, they still needed to get good grades and that required you to study!

"Ah, well," Frank said uncomfortably, his fingers drumming on the arm of the sofa.

Did Mary send her sort-of-boyfriend on her? Because that was low. And really none of her business. She didn't need a keeper. Would asking him what he wanted be too rude? She didn't want to be rude. Just for him to go away quickly so she could get back to revising. The exams started next week!

"You know it's okay to take a break?"

Alice snorted her derision but it came out wet. Furiously blinking back her sudden tears she shook her head.

Frank awkwardly patted her arm and she almost laughed at how awkwardly adorable he was. But she couldn't. She was stressed. She was tired. And she really didn't need this. Why couldn't people just let her be? Alice tried to find words to explain this but they were failing her. Her head was filled with Runes and not much else.

"I struggled with Ancient Runes last year," Frank admitted into the silence between them.

That shocked her enough that she snapped out of her self-pity party.

Alice sniffed and wiped at her eyes. "R-really? But you're so smart."

He was. One of the top in their year. Whereas she was a comfortable middle. Though that had improved somewhat this year. All the studying she had been doing for Ancient Runes actually helped her study habits for other subject. Quite a nice consequence.

Frank laughed in a self-deprecating manner.

"Yeah, I was horrible. Didn't understand a thing."

"Some runes are so similar," Alice complained.

It was hard to remember which was which. Never mind draw them.

"Got in trouble for copying homework too," he said guiltily.

"What?"

Frank got into trouble? Had she been given a potion or something because surely this wasn't real.

He scratched the back of his head and grinned nervously at her. "Yeah. I didn't want to look stupid and it started off with just me checking my answers with my friend's and it just... kind of... escalated."

"What happened?" Alice asked with wide eyes, her own worries now forgotten.

"Got detention," he shrugged. "A lot of them. But Professor Spellman also gave me a lot of help outside of class."

"Really?"

Stupidly, she had never thought of just asking for help. She thought that she would just be advised to drop the class. But apparently Professors actually provided help. Who would have thought?

"Do you, do you think he'll help me?"

Frank grabbed her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"I'm sure of it."

Wednesday 12th June 1974

One-eyed witch statue, 17:30

"Think it worked?" James asked in a hushed voice.

Which was completely unnecessary as the corridor was empty. That was why they had chosen to do this at this time because everyone in the school was pretty much guaranteed to be at dinner. Which Sirius would very much like to get to. He was hungry, like he always seemed to be recently. He blamed exams; he was sure doing them used a while load of energy that he needed to replace.

"It should have," Remus said, frowning at the textbook he had brought with them.

"Well, at least it didn't break!" Peter pointed out happily.

That was something he had been worried about for some reason. It wasn't like they were trying to split it one or something, just get it to move. Well, technically they were splitting it. But they were using an existing crack in the statue to open to the passage! Much better than trying to shove and pull at it. This was good because they could use the 'Dissendium' spell to open it once the split actually separated the stone (that hadn't been too hard to do once they'd found some construction spells). Thankfully, it automatically closed whatever had been split open so the statue wasn't ruined or anything. Allegedly anyway as they hadn't actually tested out. Just cast the spell and now they were all just staring at it.

Which was annoying Sirius. He wanted to see some action, both from the statue and towards the Great Hall.

"Let's see," he said, drawing his wand.

The other three stepped back and he made a scoffing noise. It wasn't like anything was going to explode or break. They knew how to pronounce this spell this time.

"Dissendium," he stated, tapping the statue and then standing back, holding his breath.

In an agonisingly slow three seconds, the statue finally started to open with the grinding off stone.

Sirius winced, that was almost as bad as sneaky chalk noises on the blackboard.

"Yay! We did it!" Peter and James cheered.

Sirius exchanged an eyeroll with Remus and mirrored his grin. Honestly, James and Peter were just too enthusiastic sometimes. Though, he supposed this was something to get enthusiastic over.

"Does it open up wide enough?" Remus asked.

Sirius peered around it and beamed when he saw the gap the statue uncovered. That was definitely human-sized.

"Yep! It's wide enough!"

They all crowded behind him, peering into the dark passage.

"Cool!" James declared, his voice echoing down the passage.

"It worked," Peter said with faint disbelief.

"Of course, it did," Remus said, looking more than a bit insulted.

Sirius supposed that he was the one who had done all the research. And Remus would never give them something that wouldn't work.

"Why don't we Christen it?" James suggested, always up for a trip to Honeydukes.

Because, really, who wasn't? Sirius' stomach grumbled.

"After dinner," he replied.

Friday 14th June 1974

Ancient Runes Classroom, 10:30

Alice actually left the classroom with a smile on her face. That hadn't gone badly at all. In fact, she could almost dare to think that it had gone well. Maybe not Outstanding but maybe, just maybe, it Exceeded Expectations. That would just be amazing.

She hummed as she made her way down the corridor, mostly because she was happy but also to block out other people talking about their answers on the exam. She couldn't change anything now so there was no point in worrying over it. That's what Professor Spellman told her.

Professor Spellman had been so nice to her when she'd mustered up the courage to ask him for help early in week. Yes, she had been cutting it a bit fine considering all of the elective exams were today.

But it turned out that she hadn't needed much help at all. Professor Spellman had very patiently listened to all her woes and worries before pulling out his Mark Book. He had shown her how all her marks from her homeworks to the end of topic tests had gradually improved over the year. She was averaging at a solid Exceeds Expectations now. Which he expected her to get in the exam.

Which didn't seem so impossible to her now, considering how the exam went. Now, she hadn't found it easy or anything. It was still challenging. But she had finished it with enough time to check over her answers (and change one of them). So that was definitely something positive in her book. Alice didn't think she had ever felt so confident about Runes before.

Now she just had her other exams to worry about. And worry was definitely the right word for it as she was sure she hadn't revised enough due to her worry over Ancient Runes. Healing in particular, all those bones and organs. That was going to be difficult to remember.

But if she could manage Ancient Runes, surely, she would be able to manage this. She just had to push through it and try her best.

Wednesday 19th June 1974

DADA Classroom, 14:30

Peter tried not to sigh too loudly as he chewed on the end of his quill. It was already quite raggedy at the top. Poor thing had gone through a lot the past few days.

Exam week was in full swing, which meant a lot of nervous thinking which equalled a very chewed quill. This year he had actually learned his lesson and just used one quill for all his exams so he didn't destroy multiple ones. This one was pretty nasty, however. Oh well, he'd just have to throw it out when all his exams were over. If it didn't disintegrate before then.

Okay, he just had to sigh. This was just really difficult. What did you do to get rid of Redcaps? He couldn't remember even going over that when he had been revising. They had gone over that, hadn't they? He was going to have to skip that one. Another sigh. That was the fourth one and he was only on question ten. Not that je was too sure about two of them he had written something for...

Defence was just hard for him. More so than any other subject. James, Remus and Sirius were all good at it (Remus being the best) so it was quite embarrassing being the only one who wasn't much good. Not that they made him feel bad about it. Actually, the three of them had been extremely happy to try and help him. It still made him feel awkward. Like he was making them go out of their way. And they had helped. Sort of. Once they stopped arguing over who should help him that is. Maybe it would have been better if just one of them had but each of them had taken a topic and helped him through it. Peter definitely preferred Remus' teaching style. Less distracting arm movements.

Peter looked back down at his paper and frowned. Not that any teaching style seemed to have helped much. That whole paragraph he just wrote was completely wrong. That was not what a hex was. Seriously? That was first year stuff! This did not bode well for the rest of the exam.

With that, Peter hunched over his paper and pulled his ink bottle closer. Concentrate, he needed to concentrate!

Even with that, Peter still couldn't drag all the facts he needed out of his head. This paper was just bewildering to him. He frowned (he had been doing a lot of that), homeworks hadn't gone too badly and the classwork had been more difficult but possible eventually. Why was this paper so hard?

"Fifteen minutes."

Peter looked up in a panic. What? That can't be right! This was an hour and a half long paper! There was no way that much time had already gone past. But, no, that was right.

"No, no, no," he muttered, flipping through his paper.

There was still so much he had left to do! How was he supposed to get it done in this time?

Monday 24th June 1974

Hogwarts Grounds, 17:00

"How do you think you did?"

Dora looked at her Ravenclaw friend and rolled her eyes.

"I didn't take you for someone who went over your exams afterwards, Evans."

"I'm not! I was just wondering how they went."

Dora squinted suspiciously at her and then shrugged.

"I think I did okay. Charms was tricky."

"It really was, I don't know how Lily finds it so easy."

"Not like Transfiguration."

Chryssie shook her head. "Herbology and Astronomy are easier."

They definitely were not but Dora didn't want to argue. Not when she was feeling so happy about exams being over.

"What did you end up choosing for third year?" she asked, changing the subject.

They hadn't actually discussed their electives, Chryssie not wanting anyone to influence her decision. Dora could see her point - you should do what you wanted to do, not just because your friends were doing it.

"Healing, Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy."

Dora scrunched up her nose. "Yuck, magical maths."

Chryssie rolled her eyes and giggled.

"What did you end up picking?"

"We're going to have two subjects together," Dora said happily. "I'm doing Healing and Care of Magical Creatures too!"

"Brilliant! Are you doing a third?"

A fair question as not everybody did. But her mum had been firm on that, said it would broaden her career options and Dora really wasn't going to argue with that. Not when she had no clue what she wanted to be. She was only thirteen!

"Yep. Spell crafting."

"That's meant to be really difficult."

"But it sounds so cool!"

Thursday 27th June 1974

Slytherin Common Room, 12:30

Severus hustled with the rest of his House as they all traipsed back into the Common Room for lunch. All of them at once for a change but that was because of one thing.

The Year Rankings had been posted. Overall and for each subject as usual. Well, for the junior years. The exams for the fourth and sixth years took longer to mark due to the lengths of their exam papers. Pretty quick this year but Severus wasn't complaining.

He wasn't overly worried about his results. He knew he did well. The exams had definitely not been too difficult. Except for Transfiguration. That had required a bit of work. At least Defence was easier this year now that they were getting to more interesting stuff.

And he had been right. Severus edged his way to the noticeboard and found himself satisfyingly in the top ten percent for Potions, Ancient Runes, Defence and Herbology. For History of Magic and Astronomy he was in the acceptable top fifth. Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures were in the top half of the year. Not great, and brought his overall standing in the year down a bit. He was much better at identifying parts of creatures used in Potions than the living versions. That would have to change next year.

"Got beat by a Muggleborn?" Lestrange asked, folding his arms.

When on earth did he appear? And how did he know that Lily beat him, both in year standing and Potions, annoyingly enough.

"She's good," Severus said, trying to sound disinterested.

If it sounded like he was defending Lily things would not go well for him. Lestrange and his crowd definitely did not like Muggleborns and he didn't want to cause any trouble. Anyway, he wasn't sure what his mysterious benefactor's stance was and he defined didn't want to put that at risk.

"And you're not?"

"I am!"

Anyway, it was only by six points. One question in the exam. Maybe two. That was hardly anything, really. Right? Anyway, Lily was a protegee at Potions. Everyone said so. Coming close to her was an accomplishment. And Lily wasn't as bad as he was in Transfiguration, which is why her overall average was higher.

Lestrange didn't look too impressed. Which rankled Severus a bit. It wasn't like he was stupid. Far from it. And what did it matter really if Lily just beat him in Potions? Even if could be just as good if he tried, he was sure.

"You're not going to get far if you don't stand out," Lestrange told him and then just walked away without letting Severus reply.

Not that he knew what to say to that.

Friday 28th June 1974

Gryffindor Third Year Boys Dorm, 10:30

Why did everyone always run around like headless chickens on the last day of term? It didn't matter how much you prepared or got ready in advance there was always something left until the last minute. James, for one, couldn't find his left shoe of all things. Seriously, who lost just one shoe? They should be together!

"James, why are you going around with just one shoe?" Remus asked warily.

"I can't find my other one."

Wasn't that obvious? Why else would he be walking around with just one shoe? They all just shook their heads at him and went back to talking about what they were doing over the summer holidays. Sirius was going to France, of course, and Peter was going up to Bath. Remus didn't know what he was doing. He apparently should he going to his cousin's but he wasn't sure.

"Stay safe over the summer, yeah?" he said, biting on his lower lip.

"We're going to be fine," Sirius said with an eyeroll.

Easy enough for Sirius to say, he was the one James worried about the most. The reason why James gave him one of those medallions. Oh! The medallions!

James brightened up and dove for his trunk, much to the confusion of all of his friends.

"What do you think he found this time?" Remus asked.

"Definitely not his shoe," said Peter. "It's up there on Sirius' wardrobe.

James decided not to question why Peter had not informed him of that little fact earlier. This was more important anyway. He thrust the medallions at Remus and Peter.

"These are for you," he said gruffly. Then realised he probably had to explain. "They're-"

"- a symbol of protection from the House of Potter," Peter finished unexpectedly. "What?" he asked when he saw that they were all staring at him. "The Pettigrews might not having any standing compared to the Blacks and the Potters but they are still purebloods!"

Huh. He had a point. That meant he would be aware of what they did, just didn't have enough money or influence to make them a wise investment.

"I already gave Sirius his," James explained when Remus and Peter looked at their medallions and then at Sirius.

"How's do they work?" Remus asked curiously. "I haven't read about them."

James had to smile at that. Remus sounded a bit put out; he did read about everything after all.

"They bring you to safety if you get into danger," James explained. "You just need to grab it in a hand and say the Potter Motto."

"Ledo Timor in Doscurum," Sirius said softly, reading off his own - being careful to say that as he held the chain.

"Strike Fear into the Darkness," James translated automatically. "It protects against some poisons as well."

And a bunch of other stuff but his friends already looked a bit overwhelmed so James decided that he'd tell them that later.

"Do you expect us to get into danger?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow and holding it up.

James shrugged, not sure of how to explain himself or how he felt. This year had been weird. All the adults seemed to be whispering and there were even more black owls being delivered to students. Weird things were happening in the news. It made James feel uncomfortable.

"Just in case," he said quietly.