Wednesday 2nd October 1975

Entrance Hall, 22:30

Remus still thought that it was weird to be out after curfew and not have to sneak around. It was almost wrong in a way. But here he was. Out after curfew. But not getting in trouble for it. It was allowed. Ordered, actually. Because he was on patrol. He was doing a Prefect Patrol with Lily.

It was kind of fun. In a weird way. Not that they had done much tonight but this was their first patrol where they didn't have a sixth- or seventh-year minder. They were doing it all by themselves. Was that a weird thing to be excited about? The other Marauders seemed to think so but they were encouraging anyway.

"Do you think we'll have to take points tonight?" Lily asked worriedly.

"Hopefully not."

That was definitely not something that Remus was looking forward to. Especially having to do so to those older than him. Would they even listen to him? Laugh? Hit him?

"They did say that you don't normally catch people sneaking around down here," Lily reminded them both, sounding like she was trying to reassure herself.

"Yeah," Remus agreed, remembering what they had been told. "It's mainly classrooms and broom closets people hide out in."

Lily scrunched up her nose. "Lovely. Well, there's not a lot of those down here."

"True, but -"

"And what do we have here?" came a croaky voice.

Remus and Lily tensed up before they realised that it was the new caretaker. A Mr Filch.

"Students out past curfew?" he continued, sounding more excited.

"We're, we're Prefects," Lily answered.

The man didn't look too convinced.

"Are you indeed?"

"Yes, we are," Remus reiterated, pointing to the badge on his chest. It actually glittered in the candlelight.

Filch huffed at it and looked disappointed.

"Fine then. Come, Miss Norris."

"Miss Norris?" Remus repeated, confused.

He had never heard that name before. Was it another caretaker or something? A soft meow came from their feet. A tiny scrap of a kitten had suddenly appeared next to Filch.

"Oh! You have a kitten!" Lily exclaimed.

"Yes, this is Miss Norris," Filch said proudly. "Just big enough now to be out and about. She was abandoned at birth, you see, and had to be hand-reared."

"Poor baby."

Remus was amazed. He had never heard Lily speak in such a ridiculous voice before. And over a cat of all things? Those were the devil's creatures. They really were.

"She's so adorable," Lily continued, making the most ridiculous faces at the creature.

Mr Filch looked downright pleased with all the attention the cat was getting.

"Aye, she cleans up nice. Real straggly looking there for a bit."

"But you made her healthy again?"

"Er," he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I s'pose I did."

"Can I pet her, please?" Lily begged. "She's so sweet."

Filch's face softened and he nodded.

"I don't see why not."

Lily lost no time in crouching down and stroke the small creature. It actually purred at her ministrations.

"You can too, boy," Filch told him.

"I'm okay. Cats and dogs don't really like me," he said truthfully.

As if to prove his point, Miss Norris hissed and took a swipe at his ankles.

Friday 4th October 1975

Charms Classroom, 11:30

"Oh, very good, Miss Evans!" Professor Flitwick said in delight, clapping his hands.

Lily blushed but smiled proudly at her perfect execution of the charm they had just learnt. She didn't think she would ever get used to his enthusiastic praise.

"Now, you see, class, how she doesn't have to move her whole arm? Just her wrist? Now that technique is difficult to master but it puts an awful lot more focus into the spell..."

Potter gave an obnoxious wolf-whistle from the back of the classroom (because of course that's where he sat).

"Indeed, Mr Potter! It is very impressive," said Professor Flitwick before continuing on with his lecture.

Groaning, Lily returned to her seat (which was at the front of the classroom, thank you very much) and decided to ignore his antics. Nothing could spoil a Charms lesson for her. Not even stupid Potter who she swore got more obnoxious every year.

"Now, who can explain the importance of the angle of the flick in this charm? Except for Miss Evans, of course."

She sighed happily as she picked up her quill and began taking down notes. Yep, there was definitely nothing better than Charms class.

Monday 7th October 1975

First Floor, 13:00

Uh oh, Sirius alert! Time to disappear. Fast. Like, right now. Tonks looked from side to side and slipped down a conveniently placed staircase. She was about to congratulate herself only to come nose to nose (or more like nose to chest as she was so short) with Remus Lupin.

"Oh, hi, Remus!" she said in an overly bright tone.

So bright that she had to wince at her own voice. Damn, that was high.

"Hi, Tonks," he greeted, not looking very impressed at all. He even had his arms crossed.

She tried to edge around him so she could, you know, escape but Remus wasn't letting that happen. He was planted very firmly in the middle of the top of the stairs. Well, he was until a seventh year barged past them.

"Out of the way, Lupin!" the redhead snapped as he walked past.

"Sorry, Weasley!"

The good thing about this was that Remus moved himself away from the stairs and towards an alcove. The bad thing was that he all but dragged her with her. He was strong. Not that she appreciated it.

"Hey!"

Her complaint did absolutely nothing in her favour.

"You've been ignoring Sirius," he stated after standing in front of her.

Which would be intimidating if he wasn't Remus Lupin and Tonks knew that he wouldn't hurt a fly.

"Whaaaat?"

Okay, that came out very fake sounding but it came out without her realising it. She was just trying to buy herself some time. Remus still didn't look that impressed with her. Well, too bad because she didn't want to talk about this.

"You have," he insisted.

"I haven't," she automatically denied.

And now he was folding his arms.

"You have. He wants to know why."

"I don't see him asking."

"Because he's hurt."

Ouch, that hit her right in the gut. She wasn't intentionally trying to hurt him or anything. In fact, she didn't want to hurt him at all! Okay, it looked like they were talking about this.

"Okay, maybe I am avoiding him," she admitted, making Remus frown. "But it's not something he did!" she added quickly.

"Did you do something to him?" He demanded protectively, not looking at all surprised by her saying it wasn't Sirius' fault.

"Not exactly."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Tonks blushed and it wasn't just out of embarrassment for what had happened over the summer. Had Remus always looked this nice? He sort of towered over her now (not that that was hard) but not in an intimidating sort of way. She didn't think Remus could be intimidating. Was it weird to notice he had a nice jaw? That is what she saw first when she collided with him after all.

Anyway. That wasn't the problem here. Or a problem at all. Her internal thoughts really had to shut up. The problem was that she had been caught out trying to avoid Sirius and now she was going to have to relive what happened. Lovely.

But she did it. She explained to Remus what happened over the summer; her parents bumping into Sirius', the resultant screaming from his mother and the hot shame and embarrassment she felt throughout all of it. She left out the part with her mother crying because he really had no business knowing that.

"I just didn't want to be reminded of it," she finished.

Remus just stared at her. What was he thinking?

"That... that sounds more than slightly terrifying," he finally said.

"It was. Sirius' mother-"

"Is really something else," he finished for me, nodding in agreement. "But it's not his fault, you know?"

"I know that."

Of course, it wasn't Sirius' fault! It wasn't anyone's fault. Well, maybe it was Sirius' parents' fault. A little. More than a little as they technically did all the shouting.

"Well, he doesn't."

Again, with the hit in the gut. Okay, yes, she was wrong for avoiding him. She just didn't know how to deal with her embarrassment. But she did miss talking to him.

"I'll stop avoiding him," she promised.

"That's all I ask."

Thursday 10th October 1975

Potions Lab, 19:00

Severus gave his cauldron a final stir and nodded in satisfaction and more than a little annoyance. His potion was good, perfect and actually better than it was supposed to be. Way better. And it was because of Potter. Saintly Potter who could do nothing wrong. Even potions.

You see, he had tried added a criss-cross stir after every tenth like he had heard Potter tell Pettigrew in their last Potions lesson. And you know what? He was right. Infuriatingly right. The colour was even brighter than usual and it was easier to keep the bubbling consistent. He made a huffing noise and turned off his heat. That was his potion done. Hmpf.

"Make a mistake?" Lily asked, still working on hers - it was a different potion, something in a textbook she had been reading that had made Slughorn excited that she was trying it.

"No." Severus replied shortly, keeping close eye on how the steam was dissipating. It had to be decanted just as the steam vanished or it would lose its potency.

Lily just raised an eyebrow at him but he wasn't going to explain himself. So, with a shrug, she returned her attention to her own potion.

They kept themselves busy for a few minutes with their Potions and the tidying up. Why was there mashed up flobberworm on the underside of his chopping board?

Severus had managed to decant his potion and was just giving his counter a final wipe when Slughorn popped his head around the door and beamed at them.

"Ah, Miss Evans and Mr Snape, you are still here!"

"Do you need us to leave, sir?" Lily asked, looking up from her own decanting of her potion. A few drops landed on the table. "Oops!"

"Nothing of the sort, my dear, I just wanted to have a word with you and Mr Snape."

The two of them looked at each other worriedly. When a professor wanted to talk to you it was never a good sign, surely?

He saw their looks and was quick to assure them, "It is nothing bad. Nothing of the sort. Actually, it is quite fun."

What grownups thought as fun and teenagers did were usually very different things. Which meant that that statement of his did not assuage their nerves at all.

"It's just that I wanted to invite the pair of you to a little something I like to call 'The Slug Club'," he gave them a fake little self-deprecating laugh.

He then went on to explain exactly what he meant by such an ill-named club. Apparently, it was for students that he thought demonstrated potential. That it was interesting to get such students together to just chat and hang about (not that Slughorn said it quite like that of course). It did sound somewhat intriguing. Especially when he mentioned that he invited people who he had mentored in the past. Hmm.

Severus took a quick look at Lily out of the corner of his eyes to see what she thought and saw her smile that lovely, big smile of hers. It made her look very pretty, wait, pretty? Since when had he thought of Lily as pretty? Slughorn jolted him out of these thoughts by listing all these famous people he really didn't know anything about. Quidditch players? Politicians?

"I keep it to the older years, fifth year and above," Slughorn explained, giving them a nod. "It just seems to be a better age for this sort of thing."

They both nodded solemnly, it was nice to be included in the older years for a change. As they should.

"It sounds fun," Lily said with a grateful smile. "I know I will certainly look forward to it."

She gave Severus a sharp nudge with her elbow.

"I will too," he added.

"Perfect! I always have a one or two of these meetings every month. People always find them such good fun."

Neither he nor Lily knew what to say to that so they just nodded. Slughorn looked so eager about them attending.

"I will send invitations along when my first meeting of the year is. It should be lots of fun."

Professor Slughorn gave them one last smile before returning to his office. Lily breathed a sigh of relief while Severus just looked amused.

"Phew, I thought we were in trouble or something."

"You? In trouble?"

She was literally the favourite of all the staff. Even he knew that.

"Oh, shut up."

Severus sniggered at that which she did not appreciate it. He did not appreciate the thump he received.

"Do you think it's going to be fun?" she asked.

"I don't know," Severus replied. "I've heard some of the older years talk about it but-"

Lily all but pounced on that. "What did they say? Does it involve music? Food? What do they talk about?"

He held his hands up in an effort to stop the barrage of questions. Eventually she realised that he wasn't answering her and she fell silent.

"I know just as much as you do," he told her. "Which really isn't anything."

"You just said that you've heard other people talk about them!"

"In bits and pieces!" Severus replied defensively. "It's not like I asked them about it!"

Lily frowned. "Well, you should."

Yes, because that would go over so well with the older Slytherin students. Especially the ones that liked to pretend he didn't exist.

"We'll find out together."

Sirius,

Have you completely disregarded your upbringing? Surely even Gryffindors are aware of how rude it is to not reply to a letter, especially from your parents? Not just rude, it's downright childish as well and very much not appreciated. You are fifteen years old, young man, and should know better.

Speaking of being nearly sixteen years old, it is high time you started acting like it. It's time to put all these silly, childish antics of quidditch, inappropriate friends and behaviour aside and really start to live up to your name. These are not very difficult things to do and would be a step in the right direction. Another step, would of course, be to start acknowledging the responsibilities you are supposed to be performing. Of which there are plenty and although I am sure that you will do a subpar job of them, everyone needs to start somewhere. And you will start them young man.

Of course, it is your current behaviour and attitude that needs to be addressed the most. I do admit that the fault lies partly with me, I have been far too soft with you. That will change, I assure you. I will not be making such a mistake again.

You really ought to know by now what inappropriate behaviours are by now, Sirius. But in case you have forgotten they include: mixing with inappropriate company, acting the fool, not upholding the Family Name, poor school results, poor language, inappropriate dress...

Saturday 12th October 1975

Professor Slughorn's Office, 18:00

Severus self-consciously brushed himself down as he approached his Head of House's Office. He had finally been able to buy his robes at Twilfit and Tatting's this year and now he was very glad of that despite all of his grumbling about their cost. The rumours and conversations he had overheard about Slughorn's little club meetings implied that you had to make a good impression on people. Robes that fit him comfortably and were actually well made would hopefully do that. They weren't as luscious as some students' robes he'd seen but they were functional and should last until his next growth spurt.

"Sev!"

He turned to see Lily walking towards him. Immediately he found his cheeks heating, though he didn't know why. Lily was dressed in one of the dresses he was pretty sure she wore to church when she was home. It looked very nice on her.

"You ready for this?" she asked and then looked him up and down. "You look very smart."

He ran his fingers through his hair nervously. "Am I?"

"Very," she reassured him. "Come on!"

Damn Gryffindors and their boldness. Even Lily wasn't immune to it as she took his hand and dragged him down to Slughorn's Office. He didn't even get a chance to catch his breath because the door was open. No need to knock and wait.

"Oh, wow!" Lily exclaimed as they entered.

An expansion charm had definitely been cast on the room. There was no way Slughorn's office was really this big. There was a warm brown material draped on the walls and around the edge of the room, long tables of food. It looked like snack food. People were walking around with it, eating as they talked. There was an awful lot of people.

"Ah, Mr Snape, Miss Evans!" Slughorn greeted them wearing a very well-made set of deep purple robes. "You made it!"

"We wouldn't miss it," Lily assured him.

"Of course, of course. You are looking particularly lovely, my dear. And Mr Snape, I've never seen you so smart. Very nice robes."

Oh, Slughorn knew how to compliment. Even if his was rather backhanded in his opinion. Lily went pink with pleasure. The Professor went on to point out the other students he had invited. Severus was pleased to note that they were all the high performers. This should be an excellent evening them.

"Well, I'll leave you two to circulate," Slughorn said. "Feel free to eat away at the food."

So that's what they did. The food was nice though a little fancy for his tastes. The room had definitely been expanded because there were far more people in here than was really possible. It wasn't exactly fun but it was interesting. Severus assumed that all the adults here were very important people.

Lily suddenly groaned softly.

"What?"

She pointed and rolled her eyes. Instantly he saw why. It was Potter and his friends. Well, two of them. Pettigrew didn't appear to be with him which was odd because he normally constantly shadowed Potter. Maybe he was at the food or talking with someone?

The three of them laughed loudly about something. Probably something that would get them into trouble, knowing them. That wouldn't surprise him at all.

Severus grabbed Lily's hand and brought them over to the other side of the room. He didn't want to deal with Potter at all, thank you very much.

Why did he even have to be here? Oh, Severus knew why. Unfortunately, for all his idiocy, Potter was one of the top students in the year and he was a Potter. That was more than enough for Slughorn. Of course, so was Black and Remus as well. Black had the added benefit of, well, being a Black. Slughorn always said that he was disappointed that he didn't get the whole set of them.

A cough came from behind them, making them swirl around. It was a curly, red haired wizard dressed in deep blue robes with intricate stitching.

"Are you a Miss Evans?" He asked in a deep voice.

Severus had never seen Lily blushed so much as she stuck out her hand.

"Yes, sir, I'm Lily Evans," she greeted.

The man took her hand with a smile. "I'm Charms Master Timothy Jeffords. Professors Slughorn and Flitwick speak very highly of you."

"They do?"

"Yes, apparently you are quite something with Charms and Potions. Though, of course, it is Charms that I am interested in."

"What was your dissertation in?" Lily asked in interest, never being one to pass up learning more about Charms.

Severus sighed and looked around. He had no real interest in Charms and wasn't exactly the best at them, despite Lily's efforts to the contrary.

He suddenly gasped, that was Hector Dagworth-Granger the famous Potions Master! Slughorn knew him? Wow. He was one of the best brewers out there. A real trail blazer. And he was talking to Potter? Potter who didn't appreciate the fine art of brewing? He couldn't help but sidled over, wanting to see how big an idiot Potter was making of himself. There was just no way he could in any way interest Master Dagworth-Granger.

"Moonshine!" Master Dagworth-Granger called to a dark brown-haired wizard. "Come meet Potter's boy!"

That wasn't fair! Potter didn't care about Potions at all but he was talking to some of the best Potions Masters the British Isles had! What would he have in common with them? Nothing!

Potter was actually shaking Master Moonshine's hand!

"James, is it? Your father raves about you."

Potter beamed proudly. "He's the best. He still talks about how well your trick with asphodel root suppresses reactions in his more... explosive potions."

Master Moonshine chuckled at that. "Yes, that is very handy. A good side effect of my ongoing research."

Master Hector-Dagworth nodded, "The best of intentions are sometimes discovered by accident."

"That's how dad created his gel," Potter told them. "He accidentally left something out."

"Exactly. Masterful work that. Pity he focuses on hair products. Your father is an amazing Brewer."

Potter shrugs. "He enjoys it. That, and brewing all our healing potions at home."

"As a true Brewer should." Moonshine agreed, nodding. "That and being innovative."

"Still working on that flesh suppressant for hags, Moonshine?" Dagworth-Granger asked in a teasing tone.

Moonshine grumbled something in response which made Dagworth-Granger laugh hard. He then turned to Potter and clapped him on the shoulder.

"I've been keeping you long enough. Great seeing you, James. Tell your father I was asking for him."

"I will. I'm sure he'll be asking after your family as well."

Then all three of them parted with stupid smiles on their faces. Severus clenched his fists. It just wasn't fair.

Lily chose this moment to return, all flushed and happy looking.

"Charms Master Jeffords was really impressed with how much I knew. He thinks I should extend my studies in Charms after seventh year!"

Wednesday 16th October 1975

Fifth Year Gryffindor Boys Dorm, 21:00

"Do you think anywhere in Hogsmeade sells leather jackets?" Sirius asked, flipping over a page in his motorcycle magazine.

James made a spluttering noise while Remus and Peter looked at him in interest.

"Leather jacket?" James repeated.

"Jackets," Sirius repeated. "As in plural."

He wanted a choice after all. He hadn't lost his mind.

"Why do you want to know about leather jackets?"

"I want to know if I could get them in Hogsmeade or whether I have to sort out an owl order."

And those always were a pain when it came to clothes. Oh, it was fine getting your clothes sent to you by owl if you were waiting for them to be tailored or something. Saved you a pointless trip back to the shop. But when you were trying to do your whole shopping experience by owl it tended to be a bit hit or miss. Especially when it came to the fit and how it looked on you. It was hard to judge by the picture in the catalogue.

"I don't know."

"You don't have to be so snarky about it," Sirius scolded James.

"I just don't know why you want a leather jacket."

He gave James a sympathetic look. The guy just didn't understand style like he did. James wasn't exactly fashionable after all. He went around in shirts and casual trousers for Merlin's sake!

"Because they are cool."

"In the muggle world. Not here."

"Well, then I'll just make a statement."

There, he killed two birds with one stone. Blacks were all about being ahead of the game - that was his father's advice, after all, and he got to wear something that people who rode motorcycles wore. Perfect!

James rolled his eyes but smiled at him fondly. "Okay, Sirius. You make a statement."

"But I can't do that if I don't know places that sell leather jackets!"

There was a Hogsmeade Weekend coming up and he wanted to be prepared. None of this wasting time looking for something that wasn't there.

Saturday 19th October 1975

Entrance Hall, 12:00

"Do you think Hagrid and Flitwick are going to ever go against each other again?" Peter asked as they watched even more pumpkins get rolled into the castle.

Hagrid really seemed to have a never-ending supply of them. There had to be dozens already in the castle. Not that that was a bad thing. Pumpkins were cool. Giant pumpkins even more so.

"Not while we're here, I don't think," Sirius said regretfully. "The Professor have been taking turns with who's doing the carving competition that they sparked off."

"Who's doing it this year?" James asked in interest.

"McGonagall and Sprout, I think. Should be interesting." Remus replied.

"Not as interesting as seeing Hagrid rightfully win," Sirius grumbled.

"Are you still hung up on that?" Remus asked in amusement. "It's been years."

"Because Hagrid should have won!"

Tuesday 22nd October 1975

Slytherin Common Room, 20:30

Severus leaned back and listened to the conversation that was going on around him. Actually, around him and not just close by like it usually was. Avery had actually included him in the conversation and didn't try to push him away when he had got the answer to his question (about a Potion).

"How are you finding Transfiguration?" he was suddenly asked.

Severus shrugged. "Okay. It will never be my best subject."

In fact, he was planning on dropping it for NEWTs. He didn't need it to go into a Potions Mastery.

"You should join our study group," Morgan suggested, giving Avery a questioning look.

Avery agreed with him. "You really should. We ensure that none of us let any standards slip."

Very important for Slytherin House. Though, Severus didn't think his standards were slipping. His grades were good. His Defence and Potions marks were excellent if he said so himself. Transfiguration he was passing (and that was all he needed) and Charms was good. Herbology was also good but that really went without saying because of his Potions grades.

"It's fun," Morgan encouraged.

Fun. Severus snorted. Yes, because socialising when you were supposed to be socialising was fun. But it was important that he stay in their good graces...

"Can Lily join?" he asked.

She would probably enjoy it too. More so than him, actually. She was always going on about collaboration. He, on the other hand, was quite happy doing all the work himself. It was the only way to get it done the way he wanted it done, after all.

The other boys exchanged looks with each other that Severus didn't particularly like.

"Now, Snape," Avery said carefully. "This is for Slytherin students."

"And for those of a certain calibre," Morgan added, earning himself a frown from Avery.

"We don't just let people in willy nilly," Avery continued. Especially those that would not make us look good."

"Lily is one of the top students in the year!"

"Then she won't need a study group, will she?" Avery said smoothly.

Severus frowned.

"I'm sure she studies with the Gryffindors anyway," Morgan added.

"You wanted to be included and this is a part of it," Severus told himself. "Lily would understand."

It wasn't like he wasn't ever going to study with her. It just wouldn't be as much. And she was always saying that he should at least try to get closer to the people in his House, his dorm. And this was the way to do it, right?

"Sure," he agreed.

Monday 27th October 1975

Fifth Year Gryffindor Boys Dorm, 20:00

James gasped as the dorm briefly lit up with the spell Remus just cast. He found it over the summer, or he had found a variation over the summer. But now he felt safe and confident enough to try it out on the map.

"It worked!" he exclaimed.

"You really think Remus wouldn't get it to work?" Sirius scoffed.

James ignored his attitude mainly because this was amazing.

"Did it work properly though?" Remus asked anxiously. "I had to tweak it slightly... the Arithmancy was right and Sirius was confident enough with the spell adjustment..."

"It was perfect," Sirius interrupted. "You understood it better than I did and I've been taking Spellcrafting for more than two years."

You see, they had wanted to make their map of the school even better than a basic map. Like Peter had suggested, they wanted to be able to see where people where and Remus had found this mention of a spell that did just that over the summer. It had recommended another book that James had found in his Library at home and had promptly leant it to Remus.

It basically took note if people crossed the threshold of a room and totalled it up. Which was all well and good but they wanted to see who was in each room. Hence Sirius' spellcrafting knowledge and Remus' Arithmancy.

While they had figured out that, James had worked on the runes and potions they needed for each door in the castle with Peter's help. There was a lot of doors and a lot of sneaking around under the Invisibility cloak. Another potion was also needed to soak the map in, which had been a bit touch and go but it looked like it all worked.

"Look, there's McGonagall in her office!" Peter said excitedly.

"And Tonks in the Library," Sirius said, leaning over the map. "Huh, I thought she hated the library."

"She's with Evan's little sister," James pointed out.

"Oh, there's Dumbledore down in the Potions Labs!"

This was so cool!

Friday 31st October 1975

Hogwarts Grounds, 17:30

"I'm starving," James declared as they moved with the mass of students back to the Great Hall.

He always seemed to be hungry now but in particular after a big ritual such as the Samhain one. He supposed that he was sensing the effort he had to put into directing his magic and as a result used up a lot of energy. That made sense, didn't it?

"They used a lot of cinnamon this year," Sirius agreed. "That always makes me hungry."

"It made the whole place smell like pastries," Peter agreed.

"Chocolate makes me hungrier than cinnamon," Remus gave his opinion, holding up the curtain of fake spider web that was stretched across the top of the spell crafting big double doors. They were all tall enough now (minus Peter) to get caught in it. Why it was a decoration was beyond James, it was just plain annoying. And no, it wasn't because he got his head tangled in it the other morning as he rushed out for Quidditch Practice. He suspected he still had some tangled behind his ears.

"Of course, chocolate does," James teased.

James swore that Remus would live off chocolate if he could. That and coffee. He really did drink an unholy amount of that as well.

"Well, it is far better than cinnamon."

James wasn't going to argue about that. He didn't really like cinnamon. At least, not to the same extent that Sirius did.

"Hmpf," came Sirius' disagreement but thankfully he knew better than to get into an argument with Remus over this. Remus always won.

"You'll have to eat more than chocolate at the Hallowe'en feast," James told him.

Remus huffed. "They don't even have a decent spread of chocolate at Hallowe'en like they do at Christmas."

"They have lots of gummy sweets though!" Peter said happily.

Those were his favourite part, James knew.

"Well, we all need to eat vegetables too," James said.

There was absolutely no point in filling up on sweets. Especially Remus. The guy was skinny enough as it was. He needed some good food into him. Sweets didn't count.

"Yes, yes, Healer Mother," Sirius teased.

That better not be a new nickname for him. Even if he did mother them all a bit sometimes. They needed it!

"I kind of wish Hogwarts used fireworks on Samhain like Muggles do for Hallowe'en," he heard Evans say to her friend as they walked past.

Muggles used fireworks on Hallowe'en? How come he was never informed of this? Fireworks were the best! And Evans liked them which made them even better!

"I have an idea for our next big thing!" he whispered excitedly.