Tuesday 1st October 1974

Hogwarts Grounds, 14:00

Kingsley rubbed his hands together in an effort to keep them warm until he reached the Greenhouses. He had left his gloves in his dormitory, not thinking it would be cold enough for them. It had been lovely and warm yesterday, after all but it was like the weather had flipped a switch just because it was a brand-new month. There had even been frost on the ground this morning. He was glad that today wasn't a Care of Magical Creatures day, it was in the morning this year for him on each day he had it. His breath was coming out as a mostly cloud and it was past noon!

He nodded to the Marauders as they went past him. Well, three of them did. The sandy-haired one wasn't with them. That happened every now and then. Apparently, he had a sick Aunt or something? Which was just depressing. If it was a toss-up between being by a sick relative's bedside or being at school, Kingsley would very much prefer to be at school. Less depressing.

Quickening his pace, Kingsley walked around the corner in an effort to get to the Greenhouses quicker. He was rewarded for his efforts by a blast of cold wind that chose just that moment to blow. Oh! That was cold!

Wednesday 2nd October 1974

Fourth Year Gryffindor Boys Dorm, 05:30

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Peter groaned as he was forced out of his lovely sleep by James' cheering. He looked over at his alarm clock and groaned even louder. It was too early for this!

"I did it!"

"James, shut up," Sirius growled from across the dormitory.

James made what Peter could only describe as happy noises as he bounced around the room. He didn't understand how James always had so much energy in the mornings, though this was a bit much even for him.

Of course, James did not shut up. In fact, Peter swore he got a bit louder.

"But I did it!"

"Good for you. Now go to bed."

"It's still dark out," Peter added to Sirius' grumble, after looking outside - where he couldn't see anything as there was no sunlight. Which meant they definitely did not need to be awake. At all.

"But-"

"Bed, James," Sirius ordered but it was somewhat spoilt by a wide yawn.

"Sirius, you don't understand!" James said, jumping onto Sirius who yelped at the sudden weight on him and his bed. "I did it!"

"Did what?" he grumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

Sirius blinked blearily as James practically vibrated in excitement. Peter had to agree with his unspoken words, it was far too early for this.

In response, James just stuck his tongue out, which was empty. Wait. It was empty?

"Really?" Peter gasped, eyes widening as he understood what James was trying to tell them.

"Yep!" James said proudly, deliberately popping the 'p'.

"You too, Peter?" Sirius whined, rubbing at his eyes.

"Sirius, he did it!" Peter repeated, so happy for his friend.

"Can one of you please tell me what you are talking about? You're making no sense!"

Sirius was actually whining at them now. He really did need his beauty sleep.

"James held the mandrake leaf in his mouth for a whole month!" Peter said excitedly, unable to help himself.

He barely stopped himself from clapping in glee for his friend. That woke Sirius up properly. Even getting him to sit upright in his bed.

"Took you long enough," Sirius teased but he was smiling in pride for James.

James puffed up his chest in very well armed pride. Now it was just down to him. Peter poked the leaf in his mouth, reassuring himself that it was still there. It was hard to get used to it again every full moon. Especially when you were trying to sleep but he had managed it last night which hopefully meant good things for the coming ones.

"Petey will get it this month," James said happily, slapping him on the back.

Peter always hated that but appreciated the gesture nonetheless. It gave him a little bit of much needed confidence.

Yeah! He would get it this month!

"Have you got the crystal vial?" Sirius asked urgently, looking out the window. "The full moon is still up but dawn will be soon."

James scrambled off Sirius' bed and ran to the windowsill where they were keeping his and James' empty vials. Peter knew that Sirius kept his stewing (for lack of a better word) in his empty trunk.

"I'll get the dew for you," Peter said, deciding that since he was now very much awake that he may as well help.

That and he didn't trust James not to drop and break the vial of it. He did not want to make another trek to the middle of the forest just to collect some dew. It was creepy enough when it was somewhat light in the mornings never mind now.

"I've got the chrysalis," Sirius told him, going over to his cauldron.

While all this preparation was going on, James was trying to transfer his leaf to the crystal vial with his name on it. It was a bit of mess due to all the saliva. Peter scrunched up his nose. Yuck. But, thankfully, he managed it - most of his saliva ending up in the vial with the leaf. Peter and Sirius wordlessly passed him over the other two ingredients which he also shoved in. The chrysalis made a disgusting squelching noise.

"Now your hair," Sirius reminded him.

James, maybe a little too enthusiastically, yanked several hairs out of his head. Peter was impressed that they didn't hear a ripping noise from the force he used. Those were added as well and it took him three tries to put the stopper ball on the vial, he was that excited.

"Do I shake it or anything?" he asked.

"No!" they all chorused, making him jump.

"The book said to put it in a quiet, dark place," Remus recited.

Definitely nothing about shaking or stirring it. Following the instructions exactly was incredibly important for this and Peter shuddered to think what would happen if they veered from it even slightly.

"Your trunk isn't quiet," Peter felt like he had to point out before it was brought up.

Because it really wasn't. James was always rummaging through it and throwing things in and out of it. The very opposite of quiet.

"Well, where else can I put it?"

They all looked around the room. Where could he put it? It had to be somewhere where not even a hint of light would get at it. Nothing. Complete darkness.

"Maybe in my wardrobe?" James suggested.

Peter shook his head. "It faces the window. When you open it there will be daylight there."

"What about in the bathroom?" was Sirius' idea. "Stuff it in the cabinet under the sinks."

"Will it be dark enough?" Remus asked doubtfully.

"Stick it in a box under there and it should be good."

"That would work..." Remus said slowly.

"Great!"

James beamed at them and ran into the bathroom. They all heard the cabinet bang open in his enthusiasm.

"Uh, guys?" he called back out. "Anyone have a box I can use?"

Thankfully, Peter did and everything was soon sugared away and James had thoroughly washed his hands. Apparently, the feeling of spit on his hands skeeved him out a bit.

"Now you get to join me in -" Sirius checked his clock with a wide yawn. "Twenty minutes to do the incantation."

"Can't we do it now?"

"It's supposed to be at dawn."

Saturday 5th October 1974

Gryffindor Table, Great Hall, 10:30

"You need a new story," Sirius announced as he finally came down to breakfast.

For someone who was usually on time during the week, he was always the last up on the weekends. Beauty sleep, he called it. Remus thought that you had to be beautiful in the first place to need beauty sleep. That had got him a thump on the arm. Of course, Remus had to retaliate and shove him, which turned into a minor scuffle in which he, Remus, was victorious. None of which had any bearing on what was going on right now.

"Excuse me?" Remus asked blankly.

What on earth was Sirius talking about now?

"You," Sirius pointed at him. "Need a new story. A new excuse for the fu-"

Remus had realised what he was talking about and firmly placed his hand over Sirius' mouth.

"Shh!" he scolded, looking around to see who could have possibly heard him.

Which, surprisingly, wasn't a lot. The Great Hall was only open for breakfast for less than half an hour now. But still. It was the principal of the thing.

Sirius made muffled noises from behind his hand as James and Peter looked in in amusement.

"Don't say anything stupid," Remus warned him.

That got him a wide-eyed look of innocence that Remus didn't trust for a second.

Remus sighed and looked at his other two highly amused friends.

"Do either of you know what he is talking about?"

Peter shrugged and James just snorted. Right, no help coming from there then. He looked back at Sirius and gave him another warning look.

"I'm going to take my hand off and you are going to make no references to-"

"Your furry little problem," James said promptly.

"Why are you still calling it that?" Remus demanded.

"It's true and ambiguous. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"That's no good," Sirius said.

"It's weird," Remus complained.

Seriously? Furry little problem? Really? It was just ridiculous sounding. And a bit suspicious he thought. What sort of problem would he have that was furry? He really wondered about James' intelligence sometimes. Okay, a lot of the time.

"No," Sirius shook his head. "It's boring."

"Excuse me?"

His condition wasn't boring. It wasn't even something to get excited about. It was really quite serious.

"You should use a more exciting excuse," Sirius continued. "Something that will really grab their attention."

"I don't want to grab anyone's attention."

That was completely the opposite of giving an excuse!

Saturday 12th October 1974

Gryffindor Common Room, 09:30

"Evans! Hey, Evans!"

All three girls looked up as James Potter literally bounced over to them.

"What do you want, Potter?" Lily asked with a sigh.

For some reason that Marlene had yet to discern, Lily did not like James Potter. Marlene privately thought he was rather funny.

The boy in question was grinning widely at Lily, already dressed in his Quidditch gear.

"Are you coming to the match?"

Lily just folded her arms and gave him a look. Even Marlene had to roll her eyes. They were all in their hats, gloves, scarves and cloaks after all. Marlene was even carrying a red and gold banner that she and Lily were going to wave excitedly (look, the two of them were really into watching Quidditch, okay?). Where else would they be going? But James was still looking at Lily hopefully with those big, pathetic eyes of his.

"Yes, I am, Potter, just like everyone else."

James blushed as he realised how stupid his question was and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Well, uh," James fumbled for something to say. "Uh. Wish me luck?"

That got him another eye roll.

"I hope the whole team does well," Lily shot back. "Surely, you all need it after a long summer holiday."

Ouch. Marlene flinched for him. That had to sting a little. Not that it appeared to.

"Oh, we'll be fine," James said confidently. "Gryffindor is the best."

"Hope it stays that way."

James didn't let Lily's barbs phase him at all.

"Oh, it will."

"As long as you're not all bluster."

Now that got the first negative look from him. He looked positively affronted at that jab at his abilities.

"I'm amazing."

Lily snorted at that. "Yeah, right. You didn't even score the highest number of points last year."

"Peterson only scored one more goal than I did!"

"Which makes you second place."

Marlene thought the smirk Lily sent him a bit much. Even if it was rather funny to watch James deflate like that.

"It's basically a tie!"

"I know you don't have much of a brain in there, Potter but even you should know that's not how ties work."

"I'm still good at Quidditch," he sulked.

Yet another eye roll from Lily. "You keep telling yourself that."

James actually was quite good at Quidditch. He was fast and agile in the air and because, up until this year, he was small he could dart and twist around players quickly. Very useful for snatching the quaffle.

"What about a little wager then, if you think so little of me," he said boldly.

That got Lily interested. Her hands went from being folded to on her hips.

"Oh?"

"If I score the most goals in this match... you'll, uh, you'll..."

Marlene winced in sympathy. He had been so confident up until now.

"I'll what, Potter?"

"Go out with me," he said quickly, all in one breath.

Lily arched an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?"

"You'll go out with me," he repeated after taking a deep breath. "If I shoot the most quaffles."

"On a date?" she asked sceptically.

"Exactly!"

"Not on your life, Potter."

"Oh, come on!"

"No!"

Yeah, that wasn't exactly the best way to ask someone out. Marlene didn't know what James was thinking, or if he even was thinking. Lily didn't exactly give out any signals that she liked him, no matter how nicely he filled out his Quidditch uniform this year. Hey, just because she didn't fancy him didn't mean she couldn't appreciate that he seemed to have shot up over the holidays.

"Please, Evans?"

"Did I stutter, Potter?"

Thankfully, James took the hint and trudged off, head ducked down.

"Aw," Beth said sympathetically.

"Don't," Lily warned.

"But he looks so upset..."

Lily snorted. "Yeah, upset he didn't get his own way."

Marlene followed James' trek back to his friends with her eyes and shook her head. Why on earth did he do something that ridiculous?

"He does always get his way, doesn't he?" Beth said, nodding in agreement.

"Because he knows how to get what he wants," Marlene threw in.

"No, it's because he's arrogant enough to just brashly do what he wants," Lily corrected. "And no one will stop him because they think he's so funny."

"That's literally what I just said."

"Mine is more accurate."

"So, you're stopping him?" Marlene asked, scratching her head.

She was a but unsure whereby was going with this.

"Exactly."

"Oh-kay then."

"I don't understand why he's being five times more annoying this year," Lily huffed. "He wasn't this bad last year."

"Maybe this is what happens when boys turn into teenagers?" Beth voiced, looking slightly bemused. "Girls get moody and boys get childish?"

"My mum always said that boys matured slower than girls," Lily said knowingly with a nod.

"Didn't think it would be at a snail's pace. And we're meant to find that attractive?"

"Oh, I don't know," Beth said dreamily. "I think Sirius is quite handsome this year."

"Even he isn't as obnoxious as Potter."

"Isn't it obvious?" Marlene asked

"It really isn't."

Marlene sighed. Why were her friends so oblivious? Could they not see what was right in front of their faces?

"James Potter likes you," she sing-songed at her red-haired friend, grinning broadly.

"Shut up, Marlene!" Lily hissed as Beth giggled.

"James Potter likes you," she repeated, grinning wider.

Lily leaned over to hit her on the arm but she had better reflexes than that and danced out of the way. Perks of growing up with loads of siblings who considered bickering and wrestling as some sort of combined sport.

"Don't be ridiculous."

She definitely wasn't being ridiculous. Lily was being ridiculous. And blind. Surely it was obvious that James Potter fancied her at least a little bit? Apparently, Lily didn't think so.

"James Potter does not like me," Lily said with an eye roll. "He doesn't like anyone. Just the sound of his own voice and his friends' laughs."

Well, Marlene couldn't argue with that but he also liked Lily as well. She just knew it. She had three older brothers; she knew how the male species flirted. Sort of. There was a method there somewhere she was sure. Catherine Potter was marrying her brother, after all.

"He likes you too though."

Now she was on the end of an eye roll, Lily really had an attitude these days.

"Why on earth did you think that would work?" Remus asked in exasperation.

"I don't know!" James said, burying his face in his hands but not before they all saw that his face had gone bright red. "It just sort of came out."

"That had to be the most awkward thing I have ever seen in my life," Sirius proclaimed. "And I've watched my mother try to be civil to yours."

Remus couldn't help but snort at the image. That had to be entertaining. But there was something more entertaining to discuss.

"You are actually an idiot."

"I know!" James all but wailed.

Remus patted him on the back because he really couldn't offer anything else. No soothing words or explanations because, although he was not going to say it out loud, Sirius was right. James really was an idiot.

Why had he done that? Ask Lily out? And like that? Really, did James have no class whatsoever? And he was supposed to be a pureblood. Honestly.

It was quite funny how the realisation of what he had done had hit him only when he had returned to them.

The look on James' face when that happened was something Remus was going to treasure forever. It had been a mixture of shock, horror and embarrassment. The redness was just starting to leave his face.

"How could you mess something like that up so badly?" Sirius demanded.

"It's hard!"

"Yeah, right."

"You try asking a girl out then."

Sirius tilted his chin up and folded his arms. "I will."

Tuesday 15th October 1974

Gryffindor Table, 08:00

There was always a feeling of anxiety around breakfast now, Frank found. At least around the older students. The ones who knew what was going on in the world outside of Hogwarts.

How many black owls would it be today? Would the average for the month be more or less than last month? Yes, Kingsley had informed him of the statistics Ravenclaw House were keeping of the owls. Which was rather depressing.

Frank eyed the doors to the Great Hall as the first wave of owls flooded in. Maybe today would be a good day... no. No, it wasn't going to. There was a black owl, circling the ceiling before diving down to the Hufflepuff Table. He had to turn away so he didn't see the inevitable look of dismay, horror and fear. It was a horrible look and seeing it once was one time too many. Unfortunately, he had seen it more than once.

Why was no one doing anything about these deaths? These... these acts of terrorism? They just kept on happening. It used to be weeks between the black owls, sometimes even months. Now it was at least one or two a week. Like the person behind them was getting more and more confident. It was horrible.

"Hey! Frank! Frank!"

Frank jerked his head around to look at one of the McRae boys. He still couldn't tell them apart before coffee in the mornings.

"Sorry," he apologised. "What were you saying?"

"Something more positive than whatever that owl was saying," Jasper/Julian replied with a grim smile.

Grim. That was a good description of the atmosphere in the mornings when those owls appeared.

"That won't be hard," Frank muttered, wincing as he heard a distressed cry come from the Hufflepuff Table.

Yep, anything at this point would be good news in comparison to that.

Friday 18th October 1974

Dungeons, 20:00

"Not one word, Severus Snape," Lily warned him as they strode through the dark corridors.

Well, he was walking. Lily was stomping. Quite loudly for one so small too.

"I didn't say anything."

"It was your fault too, you know."

That made him stop to give her an incredulous look.

"How did you figure that out? It was your potion!"

"You distracted me!"

"I did no such thing!"

He was in no way taking any blame for this. Lily frowned and tugged the sleeve of her robe down, trying to make sure none of her arm showed at all. Severus caught a brief glimpse of her blue toned skin.

You see, Lily had been brewing a potion, like she was wont to do when she was in the Dungeons (the only reason she was ever in the Dungeons), and, well, there had been an incident. Of the exploding kind.

Surprisingly, nothing had melted or gone up in flames. Lily's potion had just spat at her. Unfortunately, the liquid had been an impressively bright shade of sky blue. A very staining shade of blue.

She had done the natural reaction of flinging her arms in front of her face to protect it. This meant that the liquid had gone up her arms, coating them in blue. Thankfully, it hadn't burned her or anything but it had left a stain on her skin. A very prominent stain. That he couldn't help but laugh at. Come on! Who wouldn't laugh when your friend got blue gunk all over them?

"I asked you a question," Severus continued in his defence. "It's not my fault you proceeded to not pay attention to it."

That got him a swat on the arm which just made him snort again because he caught a glimpse of blue skin. Sure, he had caused minor sparks and such before - especially when he was trying that OWL potion. It was a rite of passage when for advanced potions students like themselves. But trust Lily to go and beyond that.

"That's what you get for trying a sixth-year potion," he scolded.

He knew it would be too complicated for her. There was no way it would have gone smoothly. And it didn't.

"It's not supposed to react like that," she grumbled.

"I don't think any potion is meant to react like that."

"I didn't realise that it was so volatile," Lily missed, calmed down enough to analyse what she had done. "It really does need the porcupine spines to be weighed to the ounce."

"They are incredibly reactive ingredients," he reminded her unnecessarily.

They all knew that. That was a lesson they learnt way back in first year will the Boil potion.

"But less than an ounce extra?"

Lily sounded so offended by her mistake. Like the quills had deliberately sabotaged her.

Severus shrugged. "Apparently so."

"I'm going to try again tomorrow," she announced stubbornly.

Severus sighed.

"Of course, you are."

Wednesday 23rd October 1974

Hufflepuff Table, 08:15

"Hey, there's your family's owl, Tonks," a Prefect sitting across from her pointed at the ceiling.

Tonks looked up. Huh, he was right. The owl was swooping towards her. That was a really quick reply to her last letter. Life must be going pretty slow for her parents.

Pulling the letter free, or rather letters it turned out. Only one that was addressed to her. Scanning through it, it was just the normal checking in and congratulations for her Transfiguration test results last week. With the added instruction to pass the second letter over to Sirius.

Huh. That was a new one. Mum hadn't sent Sirius any letter directly to him at Hogwarts. Too suspicious. Someone would make a comment on the owl not being affiliated with the Black Family. She still did it over the holidays, however. She couldn't bear not communicating with him at all.

Tonks idly wondered what had changed as she made her way over to the incredibly loud Gryffindor table. The loud Gryffindor stereotype was definitely something they came by honestly. Did they all have to shout like that? Surely it wasn't necessary first thing in the morning?

The Marauders were all shouting as well. Well, shouting was a bit of an exaggeration but they were talking loudly. She could already hear James bragging about his last Quidditch match. He had done quite well, four goals - three of those in the last ten minutes. Hufflepuff, unfortunately, did not have a good team this year.

She was quite shocked that they were down at this time. James had complained to her that Sirius took forever to get ready in the mornings and Peter was always getting distracted by things. So, they usually grabbed a quick breakfast before rushing to their first classes. Though, they had been better about that recently.

"Hey, Tonks!" Sirius greeted, seeming to be happy to see her.

His friends said hi as well, which was nice of them. Even if Peter said it through a mouthful of food, making James cuff him around the back of his head. This broke out into a minor scuffle in which Remus managed to break up by shoving toast at them. Hey, whatever worked.

"Hi," she returned to him.

"What brings you all the way over to the Gryffindor Table?"

Tonks looked at said table and then back at her own which was probably just a metre away.

"Because I came really far, didn't I?" she said sarcastically.

All four boys snorted at that.

"It really is," Sirius replied in an overly solemn tone.

Remus rolled his eyes from beside him, making her laugh.

"Mum sent you this," she told him, holding out the letter.

Sirius all but snatched it off her and quickly stuffed it into his robes pocket.

"Aren't you going to read it?"

She always read her letters at the table. No one was rude enough to peer over her shoulder. Most of the time.

"Not here."

Sunday 27th October 1974

Second Floor, Hogwarts, 14:30

"No, down there is the Transfiguration Classroom."

"I thought that was upstairs?"

"No," James shook his head at Sirius, "that's the Defence classroom."

"I thought it was Flitwick's classroom," Peter piped up.

"That too," James agreed.

The two classrooms were on the same floor this year. He thought...

"No, it's Professor McGonagall's classroom," Remus said, pointing towards a door. "See?"

"Dammit!" James swore with a grumble. "Why do we keep on doing this?"

That was a very good question. Getting lost as a first year was understandable. Getting lost as a fourth year was just plain embarrassing. Good thing they weren't going to class or anything or they would definitely never hear the end of it.

"We need a map," Sirius said decisively and elbowed James. "Like the ones you sketch out for our pranks."

"But those aren't maps," James complained. "They're like a set design."

"That show every part of the corridor. Even the suits of armour!"

"Hey, that was important for last week's plan."

"I just what to know how have we been here four years yet we're still getting lost?" Peter asked.

"Technically we haven't been here for four years." Remus told him.

Sirius heard them and stopped his bickering with James about the maps to respond, "Last time I check we were in fourth year."

"Yes, which means that we're going into our fourth year here."

That got him three sets of confused looks. He sighed heavily in exasperation. Really? They were meant to be the top of their year. This was easy to understand.

"We haven't been here four full years yet."

Three looks of understanding.

"Ohhh."

Idiots. He was friends with idiots.

Thursday 31st October 1974

Entrance Hall, Hogwarts, 19:00

James let himself be swept along by the throngs of people as the ritual for Sabbat finished. He didn't know about any of them but he was absolutely starving. Ravenous. Hungry beyond belief and whatever other synonyms there were for hungry. He was too hungry to think of them.

"Wait!"

That was Sirius, shouting a bit too loud for someone who was right beside him.

"What?"

"We've lost Peter," Sirius replied as he stood on tiptoe to look around them.

A brave move considering people were still crowding around, not much space to expand when you were all in the Entrance Hall.

"Seri- I mean, really?" James asked, correcting himself at Sirius' eyeroll.

"Can you see him?"

Actually, no he could not. James was pretty sure that he had just been behind them but, much to Peter's disgust, their friend was quite short. Short enough to easily get swept away by groups of people.

Remus' nose would be useful right about now but he was currently finishing up a rubbish month in the Shrieking Shack. This was the second full moon of this month which was just stupid. One was more than enough, what was the point of these "blue" moons? Apparently just to be sucky.

Sirius stood on tiptoe and almost fell over as people pushed past him. James clicked disapprovingly; people could be so rude.

"Maybe he's already inside?" Sirius said in a disgruntled voice, pointing at the open door to the Great Hall. There were a lot of sweets already on the tables- begging to be eaten.

"Maybe."