Wednesday 2nd July 1975

Evans Home, 07:00

Lily groaned as she opened her eyes and saw the time on her alarm clock. She hated the first week or so of the holidays. She was still firmly on school time despite her not having to be up at an ungodly time in the morning. Why couldn't her body not realise that it was okay for her to sleep?

She closed her eyes and pulled the covers over her head. Maybe if it was dark enough, she would go back to sleep. No, that didn't work. Great.

Then she made the mistake of looking across her room and immediately wanted to bury her head into her pillow and pretend she didn't see anything.

Her whole trunk had yet to be unpacked. Not even a little of it. Her robe was even draped (scrunched up) over it from where she had flung it on Monday night. She just couldn't face it right now. Lily hated unpacking. Really hated it. There was nothing exciting about doing it. You weren't getting ready for some big adventure or anything. It meant everything was over and you were going back to normal. Not that the Muggle world felt completely normal to her anymore. But that was beside the point. The point was that she didn't want to go through the bother of unpacking her suitcase.

Oh, how she wished she was already seventeen. She would be able to do magic anywhere then. Including unpacking her trunk. There was even a charm for it. She had been using it since second year, in Hogwarts anyway. It was great and really easy. Well, for her. A lot of her dorm mates had quite got the hang of it even in fourth year but she was happy enough to do it for them. It was always fun to watch clothes and books fly around the room like they were a part of a Disney movie or something. Though she was definitely no princess. Thankfully. How boring it would be, waiting around for your Prince. No thank you. Lily definitely didn't do waiting around.

But she was thinking too much now. That was no way to get to sleep. Her trunk could wait until a more acceptable hour and there would be no more thoughts of princes.

With that final thought, Lily pulled her covers over her head and resolutely closed her eyes.

Monday 7th July 1975

McKinnon Farm, 10:00

"Oh, come on, please?" Marlene begged.

But her dad was standing firm. And he could definitely out stubborn her. Especially when that unamused look was on his face and his arms were crossed.

She decided to try a different tactic. Surely this one would work loads better anyway.

"I've got tons of time. I don't need to start right now."

"It's better to get it over and done with," mum rebutted. "And this way you have time to redo bits that aren't so good."

Who on earth did that? Nope. No way.

"I don't even know what I'm going to write."

"Because you haven't looked at what you need to do," dad said in exasperation.

You see, they were talking about summer homework. Or, more specifically, Marlene's summer homework. Because she was the only one in this house that had to do summer homework now. Stupid Ciaran and him graduating. Hmpf. It wasn't fair.

"But Ciaran and Teagan were going to start giving me lessons about driving the tractor," she whined.

She would take her official test next year, of course, but farm kids always learned earlier. Between her two siblings she was bound to figure it out by summer's end. They could both drive a tractor without crashing (unlike Patrick) which was good enough for her.

"And they can still do that. When you're not doing your homework."

Marlene crossed her arms and pouted but her dad would not be budged.

"We gave you a week off so you could unwind a bit. Now you need to start your holiday work."

"But it's so nice and there's work 'round here to be done!"

Maybe that would persuade him more than some tractor activity. He couldn't turn down a helping hand, could he?

"It will still be nice later and there's always work to be done. It's a farm."

Apparently, he very much could.

"But-"

"No."

"I could-"

"- do your homework like you are supposed to," dad finished with a warning note in it. "Professor McGonagall said in your report that your homework proves you have the concepts down most of the time but your ideas aren't always coherently put down."

Marlene stared blankly at him. "Huh?"

"You rush your homework," Ciaran helpfully supplied as he passed through the living room to the kitchen- probably for food. Again.

"I do not!" she said indignantly. "Not that much anyway."

"Hmm mmm."

Okay, maybe she exaggerated a little. But just a little. It wasn't rushing when you could get though the work reasonably quickly. And did the bare minimum research. She was master of the waffling sentences. Hey, it had worked so far. It wasn't like their summer homework went towards anything.

It just wasn't fair. Everyone else got to have the fun while she had to go and do school work. In the summer. So stupid. Especially when she was the only one who had to do it now. It sucked being the youngest.

"It's just an hour a day until it's all done," dad said coaxingly. "Your OWLs are next year, Marly."

"I know," she sighed.

No adult was letting her forget that. Professors, parents, aunts, uncles, hell, even her stupid siblings! She was already sick of it and she wasn't even a fifth year yet.

"Then get to it."

With a huff and a stomp, she went upstairs. Stupid homework

Wednesday 9th July 1975

12 Grimmauld Place, 15:00

If this was any normal house Sirius would be humming as he walked along but it wasn't so he didn't. Definitely not.

He walked past his father's study and for once the door was open. Which was odd because if he was in it, it was closed and if he wasn't it was locked. So, it being open was definitely not a normal occurrence. Which, of course, made Sirius curious. He literally couldn't help himself. The door was pretty much taunting him.

So, he did the not so sensible thing and slipped inside. Sirius couldn't hear anyone which meant they were far enough of way to be out of hearing which meant that no one would be returning to this study any time soon.

Well, that was what Sirius told himself as entered the study.

He didn't know why; it wasn't exactly unfamiliar to him. He was in here often enough. Specifically, on the floor. He was quite intimate with the details of the floor. Either way, he was in here a lot so there really wasn't any need for him to be in here right now.

That thought still didn't make him leave. Which was silly and definitely something he was bound to regret. When had father got those white knick knacks in his top shelf? Were they made out of horn? They were kind of cool looking, though they were too high up to get a proper look at. Probably for the best, his father would definitely be able to tell if he had moved them even if it was only slightly.

Of course, he had no interest in the books that were locked behind glass. One, because they were books and two, who knew what sort of nasty curse struck you if you tried to open it without the proper unlocking charm? He quite liked remaining uncursed. And alive. Alive was always good.

His harmless browsing was going well. There was no touching of anything or standing too close. Hell, Sirius didn't even try sitting in his father's chair no matter how tempting it was. Had to be a pretty powerful feeling to sit on that chair behind that imposing desk of his but no, he didn't do it. Actually, Sirius was going to leave his father's office because, depressingly, there was absolutely nothing of interest to him in here.

Then he had spotted an unrolled piece of parchment on the desk. Had that been there this whole time? Really? And he hadn't noticed it? There was definitely something wrong with him.

Without thinking (he was doing a lot of that today), Sirius moved so he was actually behind his father's desk. It was odd seeing the study from this perspective. Made him feel all powerful. No wonder his father like standing behind here.

"What do you think you are doing?"

The sudden question sent ice through his veins. Such a simple question until such a dramatic result.

"Sirius."

Yes. He hadn't been imagining things. That was definitely his father's voice. His lack of a response earned him a quick stinging jinx which really didn't bother him that much anymore. It still stung but didn't do much except grab him attention these days.

It took every last scrap of courage he had but Sirius managed to straighten up and turn to face his father.

"Sir."

"Please remove yourself from behind my desk."

"Yes, sir," he said hurriedly, doing just that.

He couldn't read his father's tone so obedience was definitely the best thing in this situation.

"Such disrespect."

Great, he hadn't realised his mother was also here. Fantastic.

"Do you care to explain yourself?" Orion demanded.

No, he really rather wouldn't. But that wasn't exactly a request - his father rarely did requests. Only thinly disguised orders.

"Just curious," Sirius answered truthfully.

Honesty was the best policy here. Very few people could fool his father and he definitely wasn't one of them. His mother sniffed at his response.

"Curious," she said scathingly, making him flinch. "That is your excuse for violating your father's private space?"

He stayed silent at that. There was really no answer he could give that would make her happy so silence it was. Not that that would help him either.

Sirius yelped as a harsher pain curse was shot his way. That burned.

"Insolent boy."

Now, Sirius wasn't too sure how his curiosity equalled insolence but a lot of things his mother said didn't make sense so he wasn't going to dwell on it.

"I'm sorry for violating your personal space," he said quickly as mother raised her wand again.

"Ensure that it does not happen again."

"Yes, sir."

Or he would make sure that he didn't get caught.

"Now, leave us," Father order as he and mother went behind his desk. "I will deal with you later. This correspondence must go out before four."

"Yes, sir," he needlessly agreed, his opinion didn't exactly matter here, did it?

He got to the door when he thought that it wouldn't hurt to ask what was going on. He could always dart out if something was fired his way.

"May I ask what you are doing?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

It was never good when his parents were huddled around his father's desk and talking in low tones. Sirius hadn't known his mother could speak on low tones.

"Watch your tone," Father told him automatically.

What tone? He wasn't using a tone. Well, he was because he didn't speak in monotone like that weird Hufflepuff in the year above but it wasn't a disrespectful tone he was using. He wouldn't dare, no matter how much he told himself he didn't care what his parents thought of him.

"And we are making suggestions to the Board of Governors about changes to the curriculum."

Why did that have to sound so sinister? And suspicious. But that was nothing out of the ordinary. Anything that came out of his parents' mouth was suspicious. They were his parents.

"Oh-kay," he said slowly.

"Don't use that word!" he was snapped at.

Automatically, Sirius straightened up. "Yes, ma'am. Sorry, ma'am."

He didn't know why this was such a big deal to them. His parents did things like this all the time. Mainly it was things about adding more "Dark" magic to the Defence and Potions curriculums. Though, his mother had once sent quite the... passionate... letter about more deadly plants for Herbology. Thankfully the Board of Governors hadn't paid any attention to that. He would really rather not be eaten alive in class.

"It won't affect you," his mother assured him in a way that wasn't really assuring at all. "Which is a pity because this will surely improve the standards of education."

Ah, they were trying to push something discriminatory through. He had learnt that word from James and a few of the Muggleborns in Gryffindor. It was when one type of person in power did something to keep other types of people browbeaten and away from other opportunities. Yes, his parents were definitely experts on that. Though they would probably argue that Muggleborns discriminated against them but whatever.

"Um, interesting."

How else was he supposed to respond to that? Why was be expected to respond to that?

"Well, if certain subjects insist on being taught, well, it is only logical that they should have proper oversight." Father said pompously, signing the parchment with a flourish.

Sirius felt like he was missing something here but he didn't dare question it. He really wasn't stupid, okay?

Saturday 12th July 1975

Potter Mansion, 11:30

So, yeah, things are kind of normal around here. Are you doing anything interesting? Going to Spain this year?

Let me know if we can meet up in Diagon Alley or something. I'll sneak off if I have to.

Sirius

James frowned as he set down Sirius' letter. There was something not quite right about it. Oh, he didn't come right out and say that something bad or wrong was going wrong. The whole tone of the letter just seemed... off. When had Sirius ever used the word 'yeah' in a letter? He barely said it out loud! Also, there wasn't even a sly reference to their Animagus stuff and that definitely should be mentioned.

Well, there was only one way to solve this so there was...

"Mum! Dad!" James called as he ran down the stairs.

"You'll never need a Sonorous chair, Jimmy," dad teased as his parent came out of the Parlour.

Mum had been redecorating and, as usual, she and dad were arguing about the position of furniture. Which was ridiculous considering every time this happened the furniture just ended up in the same places as before. But whatever made them happy.

"Ha, ha," James replied sarcastically, having heard that many times before. "Um, when are we going on holiday this year?"

His parents looked at each other before raising their eyebrows in question.

"Last two weeks of July," mum replied. "Why?"

"May Sirius come over the first week of August then?"

Another look was exchanged between the two of them.

"Of course, he can," Euphemia answered with a smile. "Any of your friends are always welcome."

"Are you going to invite the others as well?" Fleamont asked.

"Definitely l," James assured them. "It's just that I was replying to a letter from Sirius."

And Sirius was the one who was giving him the most concern at the minute.

Wednesday 16th July 1975

McKinnon Farm, 13:00

"Turn! Turn! Turn!" Teagan shrieked at her, waving her arms as she ran alongside the tractor- albeit at a safe distance.

"I'm doing it, I'm doing it," Marlene grumbled though she doubted her sister could hear her over the roar of the tractor.

She spun the steering wheel around to the right in an attempt to miss the tree that Teagan was all worried about. It was yards away, there was no way she was going to crash into it.

'Crunch'

Okay, maybe she was. Marlene jolted forwards as the tractor she was driving came to an involuntary stop. Who put that tree there?

"Why did you do that?" Teagan demanded, suddenly appearing at the driver's side.

"I didn't do it on purpose!"

Why on earth would she crash on purpose? Even if it was one of their oldest tractors that should probably be sold for scrap. She wanted to learn how to drive it, not destroy it!

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I didn't!"

With an eye roll, Teagan cast a quick Reparo on the crushed front of the tractor. It moved backwards a bit as it straightened itself out. Thank Merlin she wasn't on a hill or else she probably would have rolled backwards and crashed again. It was just that type of day.

"Come on then," Teagan said impatiently. "Let's go again."

Marlene folded her arms. "Only if you promise to actually teach me."

"I was teaching you!"

"No, you weren't!"

"I was!"

"Told you, you wouldn't be able to do it," came Ciaran's voice from up the very tree she had just crashed into.

But the comment wasn't directed at her, he wouldn't do that to her fragile confidence that was very much definitely shaken at the minute. No, it was directed at Teagan.

"Oh, shut up, Ciaran."

"Like you were?"

The glare Teagan sent their brother made Marlene very glad that she was in the tractor and that Ciaran was safely up the tree.

Teagan then turned to her and Marlene actually gripped her wand in fear. Thankfully, the glare had lessened to a scowl. Still scary but not terrifying.

"Right, let's try this again," Teagan ordered. "But this time, you are going to listen."

"I was listening!" That's all she could do for crying out loud! "You were the one shouting nonsense!"

"You weren't paying attention!"

"You can't just shout at someone and expect them to learn," Ciaran told her, interrupting the two of them.

"Marlene just wasn't listening."

"I was!" Marlene said indignantly.

She couldn't help but listen when Teagan was screaming at her the whole time.

"Not with your ears you weren't."

Okay, that didn't make any sense.

"Calm down," Ciaran tried.

Not that Teagan paid any attention to him. Nope, she just ignored him and stomped over to her.

"Why didn't you turn?" she demanded.

"I was!" Marlene defended.

She had been! Just not quick enough. She hadn't realised that that tree was there! Seriously, who even puts a tree there?

"Guys?" Ciaran tried to interrupted again but it didn't work.

"Obviously you didn't or this wouldn't have happened." Teagan was jabbing her finger at the tractor.

"That wasn't my fault!"

"Guys?"

"It was because you weren't listening."

"I was!"

"Then why did you crash into the tree?"

"You really aren't a good teacher," Ciaran observed.

"Like you could do much better."

"Of course, I could," he replied matter-of-factly as he jumped out of the tree. "That's what I said in the first place."

He landed on the bonnet with a 'CLANG' and then on the ground. Dusting himself off with one hand, he offered the other to Marlene who had yet to leave the tractor.

"Oh, look at you, Mr Fancy," Teagan mocked as he helped Marlene hopped out.

More like jumped. It was easy to forget just how far away from the ground the tractor was. It wasn't because she was short! The wheels were just big. Tractor wheels and all that. That's what she was telling herself.

Ciaran cracked his fingers. "Watch and learn, girls. Watch and learn."

Cokeworth, 14:00

Severus carefully avoided the stupid children who were playing in the streets. He did not want to get struck by a wayward ball again or be asked to "kick it back". Both were just embarrassing and he didn't need that. Who cared if he couldn't kick a stupid leather ball back? Certainly not him. Still, it was better if be just avoided them. They could taunt in a very nasty way when they wanted to and Severus had no time for that. Or the fight that would undoubtedly ensue when he retorted. He would really rather not be walking around all bruised and bleeding. The stains would be impossible to get out of his clothes. That and it would worry Lily and that was something he did not want.

That's who he was going to meet. Lily. Because there was nothing else to do while he was at home. Not that he was complaining. Much. He enjoying hanging out with Lily. He did. He just would rather it was not here where they could do no magic whatsoever.

"I haven't seen you for a while," Lily greeted him with a wave. "I thought you had gone on holiday or something."

Severus almost snorted at that. As if he would go on holiday. The very thought was just ridiculous. Holidays were what he spent at Hogwarts. Summer was just an interlude between years there that he couldn't escape.

Though it was true that he hadn't come to the park in a while. Their meeting place because he didn't want Lily anywhere near where he lived. No thank you. He just couldn't imagine her loveliness anywhere near the drabness of his estate.

"No, no holiday going here," he answered truthfully which made Lily purse her lips at him. "What about you? Any holidays?"

That was to distract her and he was honestly curious. The Evans usually did go away at some point - which was normally the worst but of the summer for him.

"Going up to Blackpool when daddy gets some time off. Might be going to Wales as well but no one is sure about that."

That was going to be even longer without her this year then. The Evans normally spent a week in Blackpool and another with their family on Wales.

"But that's not until August," she reassured him, noticing his frown. "Summer is ours until then."

Severus perked up. That sounded good. They were sure to be able to do loads of things together. It would be, dare he say it, fun.

"Well, ours and Marlene's," Lily added. "She's coming over for a few days next week."

What? McKinnon was coming? Didn't Lily spend enough time with her during the school year? They were in the same dorm for Merlin's sake? Why did they have to spend summer together too?

"Oh."

Lily poked him in the arm and shook her head.

"Don't be like that, Sev. You like Marlene."

Like was a very strong word. He would not say that he liked McKinnon. She was too loud, opinionated and Gryffindorish for him to like her. There was nothing discreet about her whatsoever. Not that he could say that to Lily.

"Somewhat."

That got him a light punch. Lily really had been spending too much time around Gryffindors. She was resorting to rough housing.

"Sev!"

"She's okay," he admitted and that was as far as he would go in the matter.

"Anyway, today is just you and me. I feel like we haven't done anything with each other in ages," she said, linking her arm with his.

It was a nice feeling, so it was. People didn't really touch you in Slytherin House, except maybe to shake hands and even that didn't happen a lot. Not with him, anyway.

"We haven't," he replied, allowing himself to be led around to wherever Lily wanted to go.

It usually involves ice-cream so he certainly wasn't going to complain. Neither was he going to complain about spending time with Lily. They really hadn't spent much time together over the summer term. They had both just been too busy. Severus with his Potions stuff and Lily with her friends. They hadn't even studied for their exams together this year. Not really.

"Well, we have the whole summer ahead of us," she said determinedly.

Friday 18th July 1975

Longbottom Manor, 11:30

Frank tried to stop himself from grinning like an idiot. He really did. It just wasn't proper behaviour at all but he couldn't help it. Even his mother's stern look wasn't able to make it stop. Thankfully, his father just seemed to be amused.

"Leave the boy be, Aggie, he's in love."

Okay, that made him stop grinning and made him go bright red. Love was a bit of a strong word. He just thought she was beautiful, loved spending time with her, her laugh was like little bells, she was amazing and... he was in love with her, wasn't her?

Huh. That was definitely not something he had been expecting. If anything, he felt even more heat rise to his face. Was it possible for your face to explode due to embarrassment? Because it certainly felt like it.

There should be nothing embarrassing about loving someone. It was supposed to be the best emotion in the world. There couldn't be anything embarrassing about that. But it was. He couldn't help it. Oh, he was making a fool of himself even inside his own head. Which was stupid. He was being stupid. Because he was in love. How weird was that? At sixteen? Wow. Was that weird? Lucky? Should he be worried about this?

It certainly didn't help that both of his parents were giving him knowing looks. Hmpf. No help at all. Could they not help him? They seemed to know what was going on in his head better than he did!

Love? Alice? Did he?

Suddenly the fireplace flared green and Frank could seriously just kiss it right now. Just in time.

"Alice!" he greeted loudly, trying to drown out his thoughts, as she stepped through the fireplace.

Sunday 20th July 1975

Tonks House, 14:15

Dora gaped at her parents, her fork dropping into the pool of gravy on her plate, spraying it across the table.

See, this was the danger of making big announcements when she hadn't finished eating her Sunday dinner. She liked to savour it. Not even the Hogwarts Elves could neat her mum's roast.

"Nymphadora," mum scolded but Dora just ignored her.

"We're going to France?" Dora asked excitedly.

Her parents looked at each other in amusement and both nodded at her.

She almost clapped her hands in glee before she remembered that she was meant to be a cool teenager now. Oh, who cared about that? She was going to France! Dora had never been outside the UK before, actually, she hadn't even been to Northern Ireland, never mind France. She was going to France!

"Yes, we are," dad said, looking almost as excited as she felt.

He hadn't left the country before either. Mum had, when she was Dora's age but she didn't talk about it much. It involved her family and they didn't do a lot of talking about that.

"What? When? Soon?"

"Yes, we are going to France. Paris, actually," dad reiterated.

"And we'll be going the last two weeks before school starts back. Hopefully we'll get your book lists before then," mum added.

"Two weeks!"

This was going to be the best summer ever!

Thursday 24th July 1975

Evans House, 08:00

Lily sighed and folded 'The Daily Prophet' back up again. Just bad news after bad news. People disappearing, people reappearing all traumatised, that strange skull symbol appearing over empty homes. It was all rather gruesome and worrying but it sounded like the Ministry had it all under control. Hopefully.

"Anything interesting going on in the Magical Word?" Dad asked, much to the displeasure of Petunia.

"Who cares?" she scoffed, stabbing her bacon with a fork.

"Petunia," came the inevitable scold before dad turned back to her. "Well?"

"Nothing really."

It was best not to mention the gruesome bits. Didn't want anyone to worry.

"I got an interview for a filing job," Petunia announced.

"Well done, dear," dad said with a smile. "Good for you. Just for the summer?"

Petunia was going into Upper Sixth this year. Definitely no time for a job. Not that a boarding school would allow it.

"And next Christmas and Easter if I do a good job."

"Well, make sure that you do."

That got their dad an eye roll.

"Of course, I will. I won't be distracted by anything strange."

That was said with a pointed look at Lily.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lily demanded, standing up.

"I don't have a head full of strange ideas."

"Girls!" dad said sharply. "Petunia!"

Thursday 31st July 1975

12 Grimmauld Place, 14:00

Sirius gratefully left the shouting behind him as he stepped into the fire. He quite liked this method of telling his parents what he was up to - just as he was leaving. Much better. They wouldn't dare come and get him back for fear of losing face. Win win all around. For him anyway.

Especially since he just landed in the fireplace that he wanted to be at. He was at the Potters'. One of the best places in the world in his opinion. Much better than home. That he was going to have he to return to, unfortunately, because there was the annual pilgrimage to the Ancestral Home in France but he could at least pretend they didn't exist for a week or so. That would be great. Fantastic even.

Well, he wasn't feeling all relief and excitement. Yes, he loved going to James' and of course he had been invited over (he wasn't so rude to come over uninvited, honestly) but, well, there was just one teeny tiny problem with this particular visit.

The first thing that came into view was the clock the Potter's had on the wall opposite the fireplace in the Receiving Room. It was just after two. His stomach sank. He was meant to arrive just before tea time. This was too early. Far too early.

He was just dusting himself off (needlessly, really - more of a nervous habit than anything else), wondering how he was supposed to announce himself, when Mrs Potter came running into the room.

"Sirius? Oh, I thought I heard the floo chime go..."

"I know I'm early but I was hoping you wouldn't mind..." Sirius babbled nervously to Lady Potter.

She smiled gently at him, it was such a lovely smile, which put him somewhat at ease.

"It's fine, Sirius. You know you and the others are welcome here at any time."

"But I'm three hours early-"

She waved him away. Why was she so nice? Being early could be just as rude as being late! More so because your host hadn't finished their preparation! And he was three hours early! That wasn't exactly nothing!

"Nonsense, it's not like we're doing anything," she said blithely, leading him out of the room. "I know James has been eagerly waiting since the crack of dawn this morning so this is perfect really."

Sirius let himself relax as she chattered on. She wasn't mad. She wasn't angry. She was... happy? Happy to see him? That was kind of nice.

"Monty! Sirius is here!" Mrs Potter called out.

"Oh, perfect!" came the echoey response which was then followed by a loud fizzing noise. "I'll, uh, I'll say hi to him later."

Mrs Potter was shaking her head and exchanged a grin with Sirius. Obviously, the Potter head had almost blown some Potion up again. A nice and familiar thing.

"Sirius!" came a joyful yell.