Monday 1st September 1975

12 Grimmauld Place, 07:00

Whistling obnoxiously (because it definitely wasn't what a gentleman did), Sirius made his way back to his room, full from breakfast. Was it weird that he actually preferred the food at Hogwarts despite it not being as fancy? Give him ordinary palettes over egg White omelette any day. There was just more flavour to the ones at school. Not that he would dare say that for fear of being poisoned or something.

Anyway, these days it was just best if he removed himself from his parents' company as fast as it was polite to do so. Every day he just seemed to get a lower and lower tolerance for them and their opinions. Which were stupid. Muggles weren't evil or stupid or dirty. Muggle Studies proved that - they had showers just like they did and everything. Stupid was also wrong, they had to come up with things without magic. And they did! How not stupid was that? Definitely not stupid.

What was stupid was his parents. And their opinions. And their stuffy attitudes. And their inability to smile. There were loads of things stupid about him. Muttering to himself about those things, Sirius pushed open his bedroom door.

And immediately came to a stop.

His room was not in the state he had left it in not even an hour ago. Nowhere near the same state.

Okay, that was a bit dramatic as the only thing that had changed was one of his walls. That wasn't the point. The point was what had been on that wall and what wasn't anymore.

Sirius couldn't help but laugh as he went into his room and saw all the torn-up posters on his bed. Did they really think that was going to annoy him? Okay, maybe it did a bit because he had got them in just the right position this time (Artfully at angles and overlapping each other). But he was not one to give up so easily, of course he wasn't. He was a Black for crying out loud, even if they didn't want him to be.

He checked his watch and nodded. More than enough time to get things sorted. And make it even better than before. The ceiling definitely had to be involved this time.

With a feeling of determination coming over him, Sirius went straight for his wardrobe. Not for clothes or anything hanging up, but for something at the bottom of it. Or, more precisely, something in the bottom.

It had a secret compartment in it, if that hadn't been clear. In the bottom. One that he'd made with a bit of dark wood and basically making a false bottom to his wardrobe. It wasn't the neatest job in the world, his slicing hex didn't do too well up against wood - left a lot of splintered edges, but it did the job. And it wasn't like anyone put anything in the bottom of his wardrobe anyway. There was a special rack for his shoes and all of his clothes got hung up. Only he put stuff on the bottom.

Pulling the board free he grinned in anticipation as he saw what lay beneath. Some would call it his treasures but they weren't worth much. Especially in this house.

Just his motorcycle magazines (he had quite the collection now thanks to his sneaking out) and some posters. They made a nice little, worn bundle (he had read them over and over again).

There were even these things called cigarettes that one of the older teens that helped out at the shop gave him. You smoked them, apparently. Like a pipe. Or maybe a cigar. The boy hadn't been too clear on that and Sirius hadn't wanted to seem stupid by asking a bunch of questions. He'd figure it out or just ask Remus. He was probably going to ask Remus.

But the magazines were the important things here. He had to fix his walls after all. Yes, walls this time. As in multiple, not just the one he originally had. He had more than enough pictures after all. May as well use them. And annoy his family even more. He just had to cut them out with the same slicing next that he used with the wooden board though paper would be much easier.

No, wait. He pushed his wand away from him. He didn't want these to be all neat and precise looking. No, he wanted something the complete opposite. Something rough and untidy looking. That would really annoy everyone.

With that thought, Sirius started ripping pictures out of the magazines, ragged edges and all.

Hogwarts Express, 10:45

"Remus!" was all that he heard before he was engulfed by a cloud of James.

A cloud of James that squeezed very, very tightly in some sort of a resemblance to a hug. Seriously, did James have to squeeze quite that hard every time?

"Hi, James," he managed to get out.

Thankfully, James soon released him and he could get some much-needed breaths.

"Sorry, I just haven't seen you for ages."

"I was literally at your house this time last month."

"Exactly. Ages ago."

Peter sniggered from behind James as Remus rolled his eyes. James was never going to change, was he? Though, he could hardly complain, here he was having a friend who genuinely missed him. He was still in awe of that sometimes. So, he hugged James back. Mainly because he wouldn't let go of you otherwise, the sap.

"How was the rest of your summer?" James asked as he pulled away. "Peter's sounded pretty boring."

"I went to see cousins," the smaller boy volunteered.

"Mine was even worse," Remus admitted. "I did nothing."

"Nothing at all?" James asked in disbelief.

"Nope."

"Hmpf. Maybe Sirius did something more exciting."

"Probably," Remus agreed. Sirius was meant to go to France after he left the Potter's, wasn't he?

James looked behind him and then out into the corridor, biting his lower lip.

"Has anyone seen Sirius?"

The two of them shook their heads.

"Maybe the Blacks haven't arrived yet?" Peter suggested.

"Maybe," James said absentmindedly, looking worried but then his attention snapped back to Remus.

Which was rather unnerving. Almost like he was some sort of prey which was ridiculous considering what he was.

"Don't think I didn't notice!" James announced loudly, confusing him.

"Sorry?"

Remus just about managed to get that out when he was engulfed in another massive James hug. This one even tighter if that was possible.

"Urgh!"

This time he actually couldn't breathe as James had actually wrapped his arms around daisy neck.

"James! Remus needs to breath!" came Peter's scolding and then he could breathe again.

Peter had managed to pull a very sheepish looking James off him.

"Sorry, it's just that... you're a Prefect! That's so amazing!"

Remus blushed at James' sheer excitement for him as he was jabbing a finger at Remus' chest. Which was obviously were his Prefect's badge was. The very obvious badge. The badge that he couldn't ignore the weight of.

"I thought for sure it would be you." He said.

James was more popular, after all, as well as being good at school. Though it looked like James disagreed.

"No way. I get into too much trouble. Well done!"

That was a relief. Remus thought for sure that James would be annoyed. Or think it was stupid. He had felt quite proud for being chosen but didn't think his friends would think so. Apparently not.

Sirius then appeared in the carriage looking quite confused.

"Who are we congratulating?"

Gryffindor Table, Great Hall, 19:00

Peter shoved another bit of roast beef into his mouth. The best thing about returning to Hogwarts was definitely the food. It was just heavenly. Perfection. Somehow it tasted even better than last year and he didn't know how that was possible. His friends noticed the blissful look on his face or maybe they heard him but Peter didn't care. James and Sirius had House Elves to do the cooking and Remus' mum was apparently a brilliant cook. His mum, on the other hand, definitely wasn't. And was definitely nowhere near the same level as Hogwarts food. So, he was going to enjoy it while he could.

"Careful, Halford," James said to a first hear in a teasing tone. "Better grab all the roast potatoes you can before Peter gets at them."

The first year looked started that a fifth year was talking to him and obediently took some roast potatoes. Which was a good thing because Peter hadn't seen them yet.

"There are roast potatoes?"

"Want the rest of them?" Remus teased, holding the bowl up for him.

"Only three," Peter told him.

He enjoyed his food but he wasn't a pig. Honestly. That, and mashed potatoes were far better.

Friday 5th September 1975

Greenhouse Three, 15:30

Chryssie couldn't help but groan as she left the greenhouse with the rest of her class. There was yet another essay thrust upon them. That made seven and it was only the first week of school! She didn't dare add up the amount of feet she had to write; it would probably just send her into a nervous breakdown. She was on the edge of one as it was. The Professors definitely weren't joking about the amount of work they expected of them for their OWL years. Lily hadn't warned her about this! Or, maybe she had and she just hadn't paid any attention. Lily could sometimes go on about things.

Dirk walked past her smelling strongly of dragon dung. She scrunched up her nose and she and several others gave him an extremely wide berth. Yuck. She still wasn't sure how he had managed that. One minute they were all pruning and the next Dirk had dragon dung on him. It had completely coated him from head to toe. It was probably even in his pockets. And Professor Sprout had tried to rescue most of it from him which meant she couldn't just use a cleaning spell. That and dragon dung was pretty resistant to it anyway. He was going to have to take a lot of showers.

"Why does the smell linger so much?" she heard on of the Slytherins complain.

She didn't know his name. Just that he was one of the ones who pretended she didn't exist and complained of a muggleborn was put anywhere near him. Idiot.

"Probably because he's a Muggleborn," Black replied making his little group laugh loudly.

Chryssie made sure that they couldn't see her roll her eyes as she walked on.

"Hey, Evans? Do you smell bad too?" one of them called over to her.

She didn't bother to respond. Yeah, fourth year hadn't started out so great so far. Surely, it could only get better?

Tuesday 9th September 1975

Potions Classroom, 10:00

"That was so easy," Severus scoffed as the class left the lab.

Most of his classmates were looking miserable and rubbing their foreheads. He didn't know why; it wasn't like any of this was hard. It was on the same level as last year - nothing complicated at all.

"I suppose," Lily agreed.

"Come on, you have to agree that it wasn't necessary to go over."

It was just a waste of time. Especially when there were so many other things they could be learning. They were supposed to start learning some of the more dangerous potions this year. Finally.

"Not everyone spends their entire holiday reading Potion textbooks, Sev," Lily said, rolling her eyes.

"Is that what you do in your spare time, Snape?" Potter interjected himself in their conversation. "No wonder you don't get out of the dungeons much."

His friends laughed behind him making Severus flush. Notably, no Slytherins came to his defence, just watched on disinterestedly. And with more than a little disgust. Though whether that was directed at him or the Marauders Severus couldn't tell.

Not that that mattered at the moment because he had to come up with some sort of retort before Potter thought he had the upper hand here. But nothing came to mind. Why did your brain always fail you when you needed it the most? He bet he would come up with loads of clever retorts later.

Though, this time he didn't have to because Lily was far quicker.

"Oh, bog off, Potter, no one wants to hear your opinion," Lily told him.

Huh, not exactly what he had been going for but it did get the point across.

"Pity, I like giving it."

"Well, we all know that."

"You make it sound like a bad thing, Evans."

"Because it is."

With a huff and an eye roll, Lily left them to go to her next class. Leaving him alone with the Marauders of all people.

Of course, now, Avery decided to butt in. Of course. Where was he when Potter was being stupid?

"Come on, Snape, don't want to spend too much time in this corridor. Don't want to get infected with something."

Snape decided to do what Lily did and walk away before the Marauders could even answer.

Thursday 11th September 1975

Ravenclaw Common Room, 19:30

Not that anyone in particular noticed, but there was a lot of huffing and puffing coming from one corner of the Common Room. No one was paying any attention because, quite frankly, that was not the weirdest sound that came out of a frustrated Ravenclaw's mouth. People had squawked before so heavy breathing was pretty tame.

Not that Kingsley would agree considering je was the one who had made the noise in the first place. And he was going to make it again because he really couldn't understand what was right in front of him and he definitely should.

"That can't be right," Kingsley muttered, frowning over his star chart.

Mars couldn't be that high in the sky in September. It just wasn't possible. Then how come his calculations put it there? Those definitely weren't wrong; he had done them three times. But it was wrong and it just didn't make sense. Why was he doing NEWT level Astronomy again? It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Interesting, he had said. Lovely, he had claimed. No, it bloody well wasn't. Definitely not. Because it wasn't making any sense. The night sky was one of the few constants in the world. It couldn't be hard. Especially not this hard. But it was and he couldn't figure out why. Did he use the wrong month or something? He had done that before.

Argh, no. That was definitely September. He had put Orion in the correct spot. Cursing under his breath, Kingsley shoved the chart away from him. Useless this was. It was useless.

A soft, "Are you okay?" made him nearly jump off his chair.

"What?"

He turned his head to see one of the younger students, third or fourth year maybe? Kingsley didn't know. He found it hard to tell people's ages unless they were a first year. First years were easy to spot with their big wide eyes and almost constantly open mouths. He swore they got worse every year. One of this year's was actually drooling as they looked around. Really? Talk about disgusting. Kingsley suddenly became aware of a hand waving in front of his face.

"Hello? Are you okay?"

It was the girl. Kingsley rolled his eyes. Hadn't she gone away yet?

"I'm fine."

"You don't sound like it."

"Well, it's nothing you can help with."

"You don't know that," she annoyingly pointed out. "I don't know what you're struggling with."

Annoying because she was right.

"It's just my Astronomy," he replied, giving his abandoned star chart a careless wave.

Which, in Ravenclaw at least, was an invitation for her to look at it if she wanted. Not that he thought she would be able to figure out where he had effed up. He couldn't, after all.

The curly haired, younger student cocked her head as she stared at his parchment. Kingsley could help but tap his foot on the floor. As if a third or fourth year could help him. She was just wasting his time. Time that he could be complaining about Astronomy but still.

When he felt like he had given her long enough, Kingsley leaned forwards to get his homework back.

"Here, I really need to get this done -"

Suddenly, she grabbed both edges of his parchment and before he could tell her off, she had flipped it around.

"Your star chart was upside down," she said by way of explanation. "See?" she trailed her finger along it. "Just mirror the path of Mars you've got and it's all correct."

He blinked at her and then looked down at where she was gesturing. What? But... she was right? What?

"How did you?"

"It looked weird," she replied with a shrug. "And your maths was right."

Kingsley had no other response but to blink in amazement at her again. Well, until Callum pointedly nudged him.

"Thank her, you idiot," he hissed.

Oh yes, that's what he was supposed to do.

"Thank you -?"

Dammit, he had already forgotten her name. What kind of person was he?

"Evans," she said with a smile. "Chryssie Evans."

"Well, thank you, Evans," he said very gratefully. "You just proved that I wasn't going crazy."

"I wouldn't go that far," Callum told him.

"Oh, shut up."

He knew for a fact that Callum was crazier than him. Who tried to graffiti the boys' toilets in their dorm just to see what type of ink was best for writing on tiles? Really? When would you even need to know something like that?

Chryssie giggled at the pair of them. It was a nice giggle.

"Glad I could help," she told him before giving them both a wave and walking over to a group of girls.

"You just got outsmarted by a fourth year," Callum teased.

Kingsley flicked his quill at him, inking splattering across his cheeks.

"Thought I told you to shut up?"

Friday 12th September 1975

Library, 16:00

"What one earth is that all over your notes?" asked Remus.

They literally went over his notes, not just little doodles in the margins.

"Nothing," James said, covering his parchment with both hands.

Hands that Remus easily pushed away.

"Are those drawings? You can't even see your writing!"

"I got bored in History, okay?"

Remus gave him a look. "Those are your Transfiguration notes."

James looked down at them in surprise. "Huh? So they are. Well, that makes more sense I suppose."

"Excuse me?"

Sheepishly, realising that he had basically let the cat out the bag, James pushed his notes over to Remus.

"You've drawn... deer all over your notes?" Remus said in confusion, holding the parchment up to look at it.

"Stags," James corrected. "And I wanted to see if I could draw one exactly."

"Why?" Sirius broke in. "You're one."

"Exactly!"

All of his friends looked at him in confusion. He sighed in exasperation.

"For the transformation," he tried to explain. "You need to have a clear picture in your head so you -"

"Can properly visualise what to become," Remus finished in realisation.

"Exactly."

That made Remus look at it again in a new light. It was a very accurate depiction of a stag. He couldn't see anything wrong with it. Unfortunately. Or maybe not. He was still in two minds of them actually becoming Animagi despite the point they had all got to. But James was obviously taking this seriously.

"It's really lifelike," he complimented.

"You think so? I didn't think I got the eyes quite right."

"Looks okay to me."

Not that he was exactly the expert on stags but nothing was squinty or lopsided in James' drawing.

"Might give it a shot then," James said decisively.

Woah, woah, woah. That was moving awfully fast.

"You're lucky," Sirius said enviously. "I can't draw for anything."

"How are you doing it then?" Peter asked in interest. "I've tried drawing a rat but it just ends up looking like a potato with ears."

James snorted at that and shook his head. Easy for him, he was quite the artist unlike the rest of them.

"Memorising a picture and meditating on it," Sirius replied. "It's sort of working."

"You found a picture of the dog you were?"

"Not quite. I don't know what dog I was. Just big and black and shaggy."

"What on earth are you looking at then?" Remus felt like he had to ask despite his misgivings.

"Pictures of sheepdogs, retrievers, spaniels and a few other shaggy haired dogs. Maybe those combined would give me something?"

"Sounds like a sure-fire way to have an accident," was Remus' opinion.

"Well, nothing's happened yet," Sirius grumbled.

Tuesday 16th September 1975

Entrance Hall, 12:45

"Hey, Kingsley," Elsie said, sidling up to him as he left the Great Hall. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

She swatted him on the arm. "Don't get smart with me."

He grinned at her, his teeth flashing white. "That's kind of the point of being a Ravenclaw."

"Do you want another smack?"

"Does anyone ever want to get hit again?"

'SMACK'

"Evidently, I did," Kingsley answered himself in a pain-filled tone as he rubbed his arm. "I'm going to bruise!"

"As if anyone would see on your skin," Elsie dismissed.

"It still hurts!"

She ignored him; it was best to do so when he whined like that. "No for my question."

"You have another one?"

Her fist rose in the air in a threatening manner and Kingsley took a quick step back.

"Ask way, ask away," he said quickly, putting his arms behind his back and out of her strike zone.

Internally debating on whether she wanted to get revenge on him or not, Elsie's pressing question won.

"How's my little sister doing?"

He frowned at her. "Your little sister? Don't you have loads of those?"

Elsie sighed in exasperation. Did he really have to be that dense? Like, really?

"Yes, I do. But, funnily enough, I'm talking about the one that got sorted into Ravenclaw."

Why else would she be talking to him about one of her sisters? Except maybe to complain. But whatever.

"You have a sister in Ravenclaw?"

She would not beat him around the head, she wouldn't. This was typical of Kingsley, there were just some things he didn't pay any attention to whatsoever or didn't pick up on. And apparently this was one of them. Which was annoying, weren't they friends?

"Yes. I do."

"Oh, cool."

He did look pretty pleased at that which mollified her a little.

"You nearly have one in each House now," he added. "Faye might complete the set."

How could he remember all that about her sisters but not know that one of them was in the same House as him? Is this how Ravenclaws turned out because she was pretty worried if that was the case. Gran would not appreciate it if Karen turned out liked that.

"I don't think Faye is going to end up in Slytherin."

"You never know."

Elsie shook her head. They were getting off topic!

"Karen?" she tried to prod his memory along. Still a blank look. "Seriously, dude?"

"Dude?" he repeated sceptically.

"I overheard some Muggleborns using it. Did I use it right?"

"Yes..." though for some reason there was a doubtful tone to his voice.

Back to the main question! She was getting distracted, as usually. Bad Elsie! Honestly, she was nearly as bad as Kingsley.

"Karen? Have you seen her or anything?"

Though her hopes were dwindling to almost nothing now.

"Uh," Kingsley rubbed the back of his head. "What does she look like again?"

Thursday 18th September 1975

Fourth Floor Corridor, 12:30

Tonks blushed a ducked her head down as she passed the Marauders. Well, Sirius in particular. She didn't exactly want to draw his attention in any way. Not after what happened over the holidays. No. She would rather not talk about that. Or even think about it. Actually, she would very much prefer that it hadn't happened at all. Except that it did and her face literally burned with embarrassment and shame every time she thought of it.

She didn't know why. None of it had been her fault. Or even her parents. They hadn't been the ones who had caused a scene. Not like the Blacks. Well, it had been Mrs Black. Lady Black even if you wanted to go all formal. Not that Tonks thought the woman deserved that level of respect but she wasn't the one making the rules.

"Watch where you're going, freak-girl," an older Ravenclaw snapped at her as she narrowly avoided a collision.

The perils of walking while staring at your feet. And it looked like that particular nickname hadn't vanished over the summer. Great.

Tuesday 23rd September 1975

Fifth Year Gryffindor Boys Dorm, 22:00

Right. Sirius folded his legs under him as he pulled his curtains around his bed. He was going to do this. Hopefully. There was no reason why he wouldn't. James had already managed it and surely becoming a dog was easier? He just had to suck it up and give it a go.

A yawn briefly broke his concentration, annoying him. Yes, it had been a long day with the Sabbat and subsequent use of his magic. And then of course the feast where he had unashamedly stuffed himself. That was all over now.

But maybe the Equinox Sabbat would work in his favour then? Surely with the tingling effects of the ritual still a very recent memory would help him? It couldn't hurt surely?

With that though, Sirius closed his eyes and tried to picture a shaggy dog in his head. A black one with a blunt snout and pointed ears. He wasn't small, he remembered that much. Not massive either. He didn't think so anyway. Oh, this was hard. They should have taken pictures when they first transformed. Why hadn't they done that?

No matter, it couldn't be helped. He just had to work with what he remembered. A tail! He had a long, wagging tail! Also covered in shaggy, black fur. He could practically see it-

Suddenly, Sirius felt pain from underneath and he yelped while tumbling off his bed.

There was a shout from James, or maybe it was Remus, as they all crowded around him.

"Are you okay?"

"What happened?"

"Are you hurt?"

Picking himself up, Sirius tried to assuage their worry.

"I'm good. Just got a cramp or something."

"Doing what?" Remus demanded.

Sirius turned to him and tugged nervously at a bit of his hair. He knew Remus would disapprove of what he was doing.

"Er, well, I was meditating."

"You hurt yourself meditating?" James said with far too much amusement.

That earned him a shove. Then there was a snort from Peter. Then it was a snigger from Remus. And then James gave in and actually laughed, which made the other two laugh as well. Leaving Sirius standing in the middle of the dorm having no clue as to what was going on!

"What?" he asked, hands on his hips.

Remus shook his head, nothing of any sense coming out of his mouth. James just pointed at him, wiping tears from his eyes. Peter, thankfully, took pity on him.

"You have a tail!"

"What?"

Did he hear Peter right? What?

"A tail. You have a tail coming out of your butt!"

"Tailbone," Remus corrected.

"I have, I have tail?" Sirius repeated, frowning in confusion.

Then he felt a breeze behind his knees and he turned to look behind him. To see a tail wagging back and forth. A black, shaggy haired one.

"I have a tail!"

Saturday 27th December 1975

Inner Courtyard, 12:15

"Is Potter, Black and all acting odd to you?" Severus asked, turning to Lily who was sitting beside him.

Lily looked over to them and shrugged.

"They're always acting odd."

She sounded almost resigned to it.

"Odder than usual, I meant."

"That's possible?"

"Lily."

She wasn't taking this seriously at all. The Marauders were definitely acting odd which never meant anything good for anyone. Especially him. He had been turned different colours four times already. And had had little rubber snakes follow him once. He had a right to be suspicious. Suspicious. Not paranoid.

"It doesn't matter, Sev."

Of course, it mattered! Severus hugged at her and resumed his surreptitious surveillance of the quartet as Lily picked up her Charms textbook. They were basically on top of each other, which wasn't unusual. Black was a bit more... controlled? No, that was the wrong word. Not as bouncy. That was it. Normally he and Potter couldn't even walk in a straight line. No, he was walking normally now while Potter was hovering behind him. Maybe he was starting to grow up? Severus snorted at that thought.

No, they were definitely up to something. Whatever they were doing, he would find out!