January 1st 1981

The last month and a half of 1980 had passed in a blur of increasingly busy days at the Ministry, somehow managing to juggle work and the Order and settling into a routine with Lyra, ignoring whatever feelings were growing between them – neither of them had made a move and now they were comfortable as friends, both were too nervous to rock the boat. Increasingly, Mason was struggling to keep going, not so much physically but mentally, as the death toll rose and the viciousness of the attacks made everyone sick to their stomachs. Christmas had been rough, and everyone had relished the start of a new year as hope that by the time it ended, the war would have too, even if that felt so very far away.

As nice as it had been to take a holiday, even one forced on him by Lyra going behind his back to Moody and demanding he have the week over Christmas and New Year off, Mason was glad to be back despite feeling slightly hungover. It was the New Year after all, and it was hard to say no to his mum when she topped up all their wine glasses. He pressed the button and stepped back to wait for the rickety old lifts, trying to remember what else had happened.

"Okay, okay, we all have to share our resolutions, I've decided," Marlene announced, wriggling happily on Sirius' lap.

"Uh, sorry, who died and made you queen?" Mason snorted, "I'm not sharing mine!"

"So it's embarrassing?" Marlene smirked.

Marcus, their father, rolled his eyes and batted Marlene affectionately around the head as he squeezed through them all to hand his wife another glass of wine.

"I hate to admit it, but I'm with Marlene on this one," Marie laughed, taking the glass carefully and kissing her husband's cheek as he settled in next to her for the last ten minutes of 1980.

"I want to hear your secret, Mase!" Mark bounced from his spot on the sofa, his puppy curled up fast asleep on his legs.

"Merlin, it's not a secret, a resolution is not a secret," Mason huffed, hiding behind his wine glass and glaring at his younger sister.

"But you won't tell us, so it is a secret," Sirius countered with a smirk and Marlene high fived him.

Mason jabbed a finger at him. "Careful, Black, or you're out the door."

"Here here," said Marcus lazily, but he was clearly not genuinely bothered by his daughter's boyfriend's presence – they were all just glad the two of them had put a damn label on their relationship and were happy.

"Surely if we all share our resolutions then there's no reason for you to not share yours, sweetheart?" Marie said innocently but there was a glint in her eye and Mason glared at her too, mouthing 'traitor'. She just laughed.

"My resolution is to teach Marlo lots of new tricks," Mark announced happily, petting the dog's ears and sipping his glass of milk. "And also go to bed when Mummy says so."

"Mine is to finally get my bike working so it's not just sat in the corner of my living room annoying people," Sirius added and Marlene snorted loudly.

"Ha! You're not managing yours then, are you?" she smirked. "Mine is cheesy as f-"

"Marlene Marie," Marcus cut in quickly.

"Mine is cheesy," she corrected, "But… just live more in the moment, you know? Stuff is scary but I want to enjoy life, not creep around in fear."

Marie watched her softly, nodding. "I have to admit, mine is the same, we're living through dark times but I don't want to lose hope. We have wonderful Aurors working so hard-"

"Mum," Mason groaned.

"To keep us safe, and the work the three of you do for the Order is… astonishing."

"None of that today, dear," Marcus said firmly but lovingly, resting his hand on her knee. "My New Year's resolution is to keep the bloody gnomes out of the garden!"

They all laughed, Mark pouting because he rather liked watching Marlo chase the gnomes around in between fetching his ball.

They turned to Mason expectantly and he groaned again, tipping his head back.

Marlene giggled. "Spit it out."

Mason drained the rest of his wine quickly, making Sirius bark with laughter. "My resolution is to actually ask Lyra out," he said through gritted teeth, refusing to meet anyone's eye as Marlene howled with laughter at Sirius' put out expression.

"I knew there was a reason you didn't invite anyone home for Christmas!" Marie said triumphantly, clapping her hands together.

"That's my sister!" Sirius protested loudly until Marlene pulled a face at him, reminding him just whose family home they were in.

Marlo stirred on Mark's lap and yawned, looking around at them all in confusion as he cuddled closer to the little boy, licking his hands happily.

"I think this is the first time you've admitted you even want to ask her out," Marlene mused, regarding him over her wine glass. "Proud of you! She'd definitely say yes, by the way."

"I regret saying anything, you all suck," Mason muttered as Marie leaned over and kissed the top of his head.

Marcus just chuckled from opposite him and winked. "You know how I asked your mother out? It was Hogwarts, Valentine's Day in my sixth year," he started happily.

"I was so scared, I felt sure she would turn me down – your mother was quite the catch you know," Marlene continued, mimicking her father's voice.

"I still am, thank you very much," Marie interjected, rolling her eyes.

"Dad, we know the story, don't worry," Mason grinned.

"Guys, out into the garden quick, we've got a minute left!" Marlene said, punching Sirius' arm as she glanced at the clock and realised the time. "The Muggles are doing fireworks from the village, right?"

"I want to see the fireworks!" Mark said, panicking that he was going to miss them as everyone started to stand up, Marlo hopping down and slipping outside to investigate.

Mason chuckled at his younger brother and scooped him up so he didn't have to sit in his wheelchair to watch, following his parents outside onto their little patio. Looping his arm around Marlene's shoulders, Sirius pulled her closer and kissed her quickly as Marcus grabbed the headphones that had been Mark's as a baby for the puppy, knowing full well Marlo would not like the loud noises about to happen.

Ecstatic at the sight of his puppy with headphones on, Mark wriggled in Mason's arms, his little arms wrapped tightly around his neck as he craned to look at the sky.

"Ten," Marlene whispered, loud enough that they could all hear it, but quiet enough to not disturb the peace that had fallen over the garden now the scramble to get outside was over.

"Nine, eight, seven, six," she continued, leaning back against Sirius.

"Five, four, three, two, one!" Mark finished for her, cheering as the first firework arched into the sky and exploded in a spectacular array of colours.

"Happy New Year, everyone," Mason smiled, pressing his cheek against his little brother's as Mark pointed up at the next firework, and the next one, and the next one.

He was happy, he was, as his mum and dad wrapped them all in hugs and wished them the best for 1981, and his heart had never felt quite as full as when he glanced across and saw Sirius and Marlene kissing, their faces lit up with the colours above. He bent down to let Mark give Marlo a New Year kiss that the puppy eagerly responded to but despite everything, the smell of the gunpowder and explosions and the jets of colourful light in the sky tugged at his chest, the familiar tight pain blooming there as he forced himself to remember the were Muggle fireworks, not spells, just fireworks, not spells, just–

"Good morning, trooper, someone looks hungover," Dorcas smirked, stopping Mason just outside his office and breaking his train of thought so suddenly that it took him a few moments to compose himself, taking a deep breath.

He laughed quickly and shrugged. "You know how New Year is."

"That I do, I am on a double dose of paracetamol myself," she grinned, "She's already in there, I think, and the in-tray looked pretty full so I'll not keep you. See you at lunch, and Happy New Year!"

"You too, Doe," Mason called, smiling as he headed into his office, grateful for the interruption before he'd walked right into Lyra still remembering the previous night.

"Morning," he called, dumping his jacket on the pegs by the door and running a hand through his hair, his resolution from last night still burning in his ears as he turned to face her, "Happy New Year!"

Lyra registered the voice after a moment and looked up, picking her head up out of her hands and forcing a smile on her face. "To you too, how was being at home?"

Mason raised an eyebrow at her slowly as he walked over to the desk. "Home was good, Marlene and Sirius were insufferable as usual. How was your midnight?"

She tucked her hair behind her ears – she'd cut it short sometime during his week off, he noticed, it now skimmed her shoulders and made her look even prettier – and nodded slowly. "Midnight was lovely, actually. Dorcas was at home, so I joined her after work and her mum stuffed us with food and they got drunk and we watched rubbish Muggle movies before we came home just after twelve."

"Sounds great," he chuckled, "And I'm glad, but… why do you look like you've been crying?"

She blinked, not having expected him to notice but at the same time she was kind of glad he had.

"Oh. Um. Because I have been," she admitted quietly, leaning back on his chair and managing a wan smile.

"And… why?" he asked gently, "That's no way to start the year."

She laughed wetly and shook her head, handing the letter over to him and getting up to give him back the main desk she'd moved onto while she was covering him.

Mason read and reread the letter, eyes boring into the carefully constructed words before he dropped the paper on the desk and swore under his breath. "Just when I thought the guy couldn't be more of a fucking dick."

Lyra laughed slightly. "Robert Avery never fails to surprise you, does he?"

"Why did he send this? To hurt you? How fucking petty," Mason snapped, walking around to the other side of the desk and standing in front of her, wanting to reach out to her but not knowing how.

She shrugged and tipped her head to the side, willing herself not to cry again but feeling the first tear roll down her cheek.

"He knows me too well to not touch a nerve. He's reminding me he's out there, that… that he thinks I'll come back. And he decided telling me that Regulus had received the Dark Mark was just a fun addition."

"I'll kill Avery next time I see him," Mason promised, brushing the tear off her cheek softly.

She smiled at him and shrugged again uselessly, wiping her eyes roughly. "I don't want to have to hunt down my own brother, Mason," she whispered. "You know Barty Crouch passed the law? It happened just this week, I assume you were told. Moody is furious, but we now can and have to use brutal force on Death Eaters that resist arrest. We're allowed to use the Unforgiveables on them. If… If I see him, if he runs, I have to pick between doing my job and killing my brother or letting a known Death Eater go and I don't know what I'd do in that situation, I never wanted this."

Mason wrapped his arms around her suddenly, tucking her against him and taking a deep breath. "It'll be okay, shhh, you don't have to think about that just now."

"He's my big brother, Mason," she sobbed, gripping the edges of his robes, "He used to play dress up with me and help me cut up my food when I didn't want to eat and pretend to be the prince when I wanted to be a princess, he stayed up with me all night when Sirius left, and now he's burned their fucking mark into his skin and I have to pretend I'm okay with this, pretend I'm okay with knowing I have to kill him, that you and Dorcas and Sirius and everyone I care about are actively fighting against him."

"You don't have to pretend anything, Moody would never put you on a mission if we knew he was going to be involved," Mason said firmly. He didn't know if it was a policy, but Moody fucking owed him one – he'd make it a policy.

"I hate this, happy new year to me," she whispered, pulling away from him and wiping her eyes angrily. "And I hate that we only ever hug when one of us is crying. I'm sorry you had to come back from holiday to find this waiting for you."

"There are far worse things to come back to," Mason promised, grabbing her a tissue from the box on the desk, "This place has never looked tidier and if I didn't think you were ready to graduate before, I would now. You've done my job, as far as everyone has told me, flawlessly."

She laughed slightly and blew her nose, forcing herself to finish dealing with the news internally and smiling, "Guess you're not needed, McKinnon."

"Guess not," he sighed, shaking his head. "I'll just leave then…"

"Bye," she smirked despite her red rimmed eyes, sitting back down on his chair. "I've got this."

"You're awful."

"I know," she grinned, shrugging. "Thank you, though, I feel better."

"Good," he smiled, "I don't like it when you're upset."

She snorted and vacated his chair for her own, allowing him to flop into it and spin around childishly as he grinned back at her.

"How are you doing, anyway?" she asked, quickly grabbing her quill back from his space and dropping it into the ink pot in the corner. "With everything, you know?"

He shrugged slightly, brushing some lint from his robe as he avoided her question for a moment. He felt the weight of her gaze on him, so he looked back up and met it with a sigh.

"The week off was nice, and I will begrudgingly thank you for it, I don't know if it fixed the issues though," he admitted.

"If it had fixed anything I'd have declared it a miracle," she replied lightly, "But you look… better. More rested. That's better than nothing."

Mason smiled back warmly and nodded, grabbing the first folder off the pile and taking a deep breath. "It is. I feel better, I mean it."

"You're welcome," she smiled broadly, responding to his warmth with her own and feeling the ache in her chest loosen as his blue eyes flashed with the closest thing to happiness that she'd seen in them for a while.

He span around on the chair again for something to do and then stopped abruptly as he swivelled to face her again, a grin splitting across his face.

"What?" she snorted, arching one brow carefully.

"I completely forgot! After work tomorrow we're going to the Potter's house!"

"Why?"

"It's my birthday!" he laughed.

Lyra's eyes widened. "What?! You never said anything! I have twenty four hours to get a present?! Merlin, Mason, give a girl some warning!" she whined, tipping her head back in despair.

"I'm not asking for a present, don't be silly," he protested, waving her off, "I'm mentioning it because they're hosting the party, they've got the biggest house!"

"I get an invite to your birthday party?" she grinned, pulling herself closer to their desk and crossing her feet happily underneath where he couldn't see.

"Of course!" Mason laughed, "Why wouldn't you?"

"I don't know," she snorted, shrugging, "I wanted to check! What is this anyway, the big twenty three?"

Mason pouted. "You and everyone else are officially banned from saying it, it sounds so old."

"Happy twenty third birthday for tomorrow," she smirked.

"Lyra…"

"Wow, only seven years until you reach thirty!" she gasped, clasping her hands together. "You're really ol – ow!"

He cut her off by smacking her playfully around the head with the folder, raising it again with a wide grin so she fully knew he was joking – it might not have come up recently, but he remembered how she'd been back in training when threatened.

"Don't hit me!" she protested, pushing her chair backwards swiftly and wheeling out of reach of him. "You're so rude!"

"I'm rude? I'm rude! You're the one with the countdown to my thirtieth birthday!"

At that, her eyes gleamed and she hopped up, darting over to their chalkboard, used mostly for notes or brief plans and ignored the rest of the time. Wiping it clean with a spell, she grabbed the chalk, made a quick calculation in her head and wrote in large letters along the side '2500 days until Mason turns 30! :-)' as he let out an outraged cry and hurried after her.

"Okay well first of all, idiot, it's two thousand five hundred and fifty five days," he smirked, plucking the chalk from her hand, standing behind her and correcting the number as she huffed back at him, "And second, is that the highest you can reach?"

"… Maybe," she muttered, glancing at the writing halfway up the board.

Mason sniggered, easily stretching to reach the top of the board and writing 'Lyra sucks at maths! :-)'

She made a derisive noise and whacked his arm, making the mouth of the smiley face very wonky as the line veered downwards.

"Now look what you've done! That's it, you're uninvited!" Mason said smugly.

"No!" she whined, ducking under his arm and grabbing the duster to try and rub out the line across the rest of the board.

"Yes! You don't get to insult me and mess up my writing and still come to my party!" Mason sighed dramatically.

Lyra put her hand to her forehead and pretended to swoon, "Oh no! How will I ever recover?"

"I know, the loss of such a gift is truly-"

"Ahem."

There was a quiet knocking on the door and it creaked open slightly, revealing the awkward and embarrassed Jon, his red cheeks looking even brighter below his dark hair.

"Sorry to, uh, interrupt, I was heading this way and Moody asked me to pop this in to you, Lyra. From the other day?"

Lyra fumbled to put the duster back on the shelf and brush her hands off before she slipped over to grab the paperwork from him. "Thanks, Jon, sorry you got roped into being his errand boy, he's awful for that."

Mason cleared his throat and smiled tightly at Jon, who did the exact same back, nodding his head. Mason had found him at work after the disaster of a date and apologised again for running out, adding that he probably didn't think it was going to work out and he was sorry for stringing him along. It hadn't been a particularly fun encounter, but Jon had understood – the war was only growing in ferocity, neither of them really had the free time necessary; and on top of that, even if Mason hadn't said anything, Jon wasn't blind, everyone in the office was starting to cotton onto what was happening between Mason and Lyra. They'd agreed to just be colleagues and friends and put it behind them but doing that was easier said than done and it was still a pretty awkward situation all around.

"Oh, no, it's okay, glad I could help," Jon said, shaking his head at her and smiling. "I'll see you around."

"Oh, yeah, bye, thanks Jon," she said hastily, pacing back over to the desk for something to do, feeling distinctly like she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't have been.

Mason huffed and dropped the chalk back down next to the duster, cursing the awful timing of Jon's errand.


"Oh my God," James grinned, "He managed to cockblock you without even trying!"

Sirius threw his head back and laughed loudly as Mason folded his arms across his chest, finished with his story.

"It's not funny."

"Nah, I'm sorry, Mase, that is kind of funny," James continued, sipping his beer and leaning back on the sofa. "Boys?"

Sirius and Peter nodded and Mason threw a pillow at them in annoyance, covering his own glass to prevent a spillage as Sirius returned fire with another bark of laughter.

"Did you not say something after Jon went?" Peter asked eagerly, eyes darting to the doorway in case the girls reappeared from showing Lyra around the house.

"Nah, I didn't, we kind of snapped out of it and actually did some work," he snorted.

"Shame, because that could've got hot," James said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Prongs, please," Sirius groaned, "There is a line, and you crossed it."

"You're a child, James," Mason grinned. "A gross child."

"At least I got the girl, what do the rest of you have to say to that, huh?" he smirked, waving his wedding band around smugly.

"No comment," Sirius smirked too, "I'm all sorted."

"Me and Mason aren't the only single ones," Peter protested, "Remus isn't seeing anyone, I don't think? I've not really spoken to him much recently, actually."

Something flashed across Sirius' eyes so quickly Mason wasn't even sure it had been there at all.

"Dorcas is also single, so that's five of us single and four all loved up, we're the majority so you two smug pricks can hold your tongues," Mason grinned, nudging Peter's side.

"At least my tongue is being used t-"

James, Mason and Peter immediately made such a racket that Sirius couldn't finish his sentence, to everyone's relief.

"What is going on in here?" Dorcas grinned, poking her head around the doorway and bounding over, her empty bottle in her hand before she switched it out for a new one from the crate on the table.

"Sirius is being filthy," James grinned.

"Well please don't be filthy, any of you, your son is awake and wants to join in the party," Lily laughed warmly, turning around baby Harry in her arms as he gurgled happily, blinking at them all.

"Hello, mini Prongs! What are you doing up!" James cooed, taking him from Lily's arms and kissing his son's forehead. He pushed his glasses back up his nose and pouted as Lily retreated to the kitchen with Lyra. "Son, do you fancy going to Uncle Mason for a while? I've lost my beer and I've yet to give my wife a kiss this evening, which I'm sure she's pissed about."

"You know he doesn't understand you, right?" Marlene grinned, flicking the back of James' head as she went past, being tugged onto Sirius' lap.

"Babies kind of do understand you," Peter said, blinking quickly as he leaned forwards to explain. "It's actually better for them if you speak to them like Prongs is doing rather than baby talk, according to some research."

"Thank you, Wormtail," James said triumphantly, passing the baby to Mason who cradled him easily in one arm, his drink in the other. "Aha, Lils, there you are! Where did you go? Drinks are in here!"

Lily held the bottle up. "Not the non-alcoholic ones!"

Lyra laughed, mimicking Lily as she showed them the second bottle and waved it with a grin.

"Wait, why would we want non-alcoholic drinks?" Peter frowned.

"You might not," Lyra laughed, pouring her and Lily large glasses of the fizzy drink, "But Lily's breastfeeding."

"And Lyra doesn't drink," Mason added, shrugging as he pulled faces at Harry, who was making quiet sounds back at him.

"I don't," she confirmed, watching him with surprise because they hadn't discussed that in a long time which meant he'd remembered that about her. "What even is this stuff anyway, Lily?"

"Schloer, it's a Muggle drink and it's lush," she grinned, clinking their glasses together. "Cheers."

"And happy birthday!" Dorcas added, "Now we're all here can we do presents?"

"Anyone would think it was your birthday," Mason grinned, rolling his eyes and setting Harry down on his mat in the middle to entertain himself for a bit.

"Presents!" James called, flicking his wand and summoning the parcels they'd hidden before Mason had arrived.

The others cheered and settled back as he started to work his way through the various bags and wrapped boxes happily. Marlene, who had already spent the day with Mason and their family at home, quickly lost interest in watching her brother open yet more presents so occupied herself by throwing mini pretzels up into the air and – very unsuccessfully – trying to catch them. Sipping her drink (it was really good, Lily hadn't lied) and watching Marlene momentarily, Lyra giggled and crossed her legs; normally she hated being sober around drunk people, it was always messy and people tended to get meaner when drunk, but Lily wasn't drinking either and this was a very different party to the sort she was used to. Dorcas, ever aware, had reminded her if she needed a break she could just take it and they wouldn't ask questions, and had even asked if she wanted her to not drink either, but Lyra had turned her down firmly: being sober around drunk Robert and his friends was so far removed from this, with her friends happily tipsy and laughing at the socks Peter had picked out for Mason, that the worry hadn't even crossed her mind.

Even if she wasn't drinking, the atmosphere was contagious and as Mason hauled the box labelled from her and Dorcas onto his lap, she giggled and shot Dorcas a glance, leaning back on against the sofa happily.

"I thought you said you only had twenty-four hours to get me a gift," Mason grinned at her, reading the label and laughing in anticipation of whatever was inside.

Lyra shrugged and hid a smirk behind her glass. "Dorcas just let me add my name on the label, don't tell anyone."

"My lips are sealed," he promised, ripping off the paper and examining the box. "Are you guys serious?" "No, he's there," Dorcas pointed, and Sirius saluted happily, his other hand running through Marlene's hair lazily.

"We're serious," Lyra grinned, "Figured the office coffee was shit enough for one drink a day, let alone the million you have."

James had gone to pick Harry up from where he'd crawled to in the room and so peered over Mason's shoulder, eyes widening. "That's so cool!"

"What is it?" Sirius said, snorting.

"It's a little desk coffee maker," Mason laughed, turning it round to show them, "Because the office coffee really is shit, it's true."

"And Lyra did contribute," Dorcas protested, "She bought you a new mug!"

"Wow, how generous!"

Lyra grabbed the extra bag with the mug and dumped it on his lap with a grin, flushing as he winked at her and dropping into the space next to him on the sofa, hands wrapped around her glass.

"Thank you everyone, despite being old and decrepit-"

"You can't steal our jokes from us," James protested.

"- I'm having a really great day, and now the best bit starts," Mason finished, ignoring James. "Getting drunk as fuck!"

Sirius, Pete and Dorcas cheered, James handing out some more cans of beer as they did. Mason leaned back on the sofa and rested his arm along the back with his fingers very nearly brushing her shoulder, making Lyra acutely aware of just how close he was to her. It really didn't help that he looked extremely good: maybe it was being unused to seeing him in casual clothes, maybe it was that he'd been sleeping better and was actually relaxing, maybe it was just that she'd always found him hot and ignored it for the most part. Whatever it was, it was extremely distracting, and she was hardly paying attention to the conversation as she resisted the urge to 'accidentally' shift closer to him.

"If we're saying this is a classic Gryffindor party, with the added bonus of Lyra being here too," Marlene grinned, swapping her drink for a new one, "Then we have to play truth or dare. We just do, I don't make the rules!"

"Except you are making them?" Sirius pointed out, earning a whack on his arm.

"I am absolutely not playing truth or dare," Mason said, shaking his head. "It never ends well."

"Yes you absolutely are," Dorcas grinned wickedly.

"As a married man, I pass on all kissing dares, or any dares that mean I disrespect-"

"We get it, James, you're in love," Peter snickered. "I'm in!"

"Pete, you would be, there's a chance you'll get a snog out of this," Sirius smirked and got a second whack, harder, from Marlene again.

"I'm in," Dorcas laughed, "We all know that truths are the hard ones, not dares."

"I'm in," Lyra shrugged, "I don't think I've ever really played."

James blinked. "Sorry what?"

"Yeah, I have to agree with him on that, what do you mean you've never played truth or dare?" Lily grinned, settling Harry back on her knee now he'd gotten bored of crawling around.

Lyra shrugged and sipped her Schloer slowly, "I guess it's just not a classic Slytherin party thing? Not sure. But I'm in."

"Mason, now you have to play," Marlene beamed. "You can't be the only one not playing!"

Mason gave his little sister a stern look then drained the rest of his drink. "I need something stronger than beer if I'm planning on acting like a sixteen year old again."

"Yeah, it was a while ago," Lyra mused, and James choked on his drink, Dorcas whooped and Mason just glowered and threw a pillow at her lightly.

"Lyra Black!" Lily giggled, "Who would've guessed?"

"ME! She does this all the time! She acts all innocent around you guys and then rips into me at work!" Mason protested, pouring himself a drink from the bottle of whiskey James and Lily had bought him. "She graffitied my board yesterday!"

"Awhhh, poor little baby," Lily pouted at him, bouncing Harry on her knee to make the comparison obvious, "Does Lyra say mean things to you?" She turned to Lyra and grinned, "Glad someone is keeping him in his place there too."

Lyra raised her glass to Lily and Lily did the same back, winking.

"This is bullying," Mason muttered, glaring at Lyra who just smiled innocently back and fluttered her eyelashes. He choked slightly on the drink and turned back to look at the others.

"Okay, someone go first!" Marlene said, pointing at Dorcas. "Doe, you! Truth or dare?"

"Truth, they're the real tough option," Dorcas shrugged.

"Hmmm, are you really not seeing anyone?" Marlene asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm really not," Dorcas smiled, "I'm busy, dude."

"Waste of a question, Lene," James groaned. "Could've got all sorts of info from her!"

Marlene argued back immediately, of course, and the game quickly got derailed by their back and forth, Sirius doing a dare at some point in between to keep things moving, and so Lyra zoned out, being distracted once again by Mason sat next to her. He'd shaved today, and she couldn't decide whether she liked it better or not, but it was different and she kept having to forcibly keep her gaze on the others because Dorcas had already caught her staring once.

"Lyra!"

She jumped slightly and took a gulp of drink, blinking at the voice. "Yeah?"

Dorcas' eyes flashed with mischief. "Truth or dare?"

"Merlin save me," Lyra muttered and Mason snorted from next to her, angling his body to face her. His attention made her blush as it always did. "Uh…" Dare was suicide, she knew what Dorcas would ask from her for a dare and she didn't want to kiss Mason publicly. Truth was no better, but there was less embarrassment right away, or she could just lie – she knew Dorcas wouldn't out her if she chose that option. "Truth?"

James rubbed his hands together jokingly and leaned forwards to listen.

"Out of the people you've kissed…"

"Thanks, Merlin, you were useless," Lyra cursed, rolling her eyes.

"Out of the people you've kissed," Dorcas repeated, grinning at her friend, "Who have you kissed, actually? And who would you say was the best?"

"That's two questions," Lyra whined.

"Birthday rules, right Mason?" Dorcas said, and Lyra glared at her, knowing full well what she was doing.

Mason took another big gulp of whiskey, choked and shrugged, trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone, most of all with Lyra. "Sure."

"Fantastic answer," Lily said smugly, and Lyra didn't know how she could look so innocent with a baby on her lap but also be so delighted that Lyra was going bright red.

"Uh, okay, I've kissed… Adrian, that was Valentine's Day in first year, not sure if that really counts," she started slowly, ticking them off on her fingers, "Rodolphus – before he was engaged to Bellatrix, can I add – and he was awful, Charlie in fifth year, Robert, of course, also awful, so I guess the best has to have been Mason," she finished with a little shrug.

Dorcas crowed happily at the admission as the rest of their friends spluttered and yelled in protest at the news, Harry looking very put out at all the commotion.

"Sorry, when did you two-"

"Mason! You never said!"

"WHO said you could snog my-'

"It wasn't like that!" Mason tried to cut across, glancing frantically across at Lyra for back up, his own cheeks warm. "It was just – wait it was the best?"

She laughed awkwardly, crossing her legs under herself and shrugging. "No competition, really."

"No, sorry, rewind," Sirius demanded. "When the fuck did you two kiss?"

"And why were we not told?" Marlene added, horrified to have been out of the loop. "Mason, you never said when we talked at New Year about y-"

"Well it was a while ago, okay, like November time," Mason said defensively, running a hand through his hair and really wishing he hadn't drank so much so quickly. It had been November 17th: he knew the date by heart now thanks to the amount of time he'd spent thinking about it but he wasn't going to tell anyone that.

"It was on a mission, too," Lyra added, laughing awkwardly. She'd known that their friends would ask questions, but she hadn't quite thought it through. Honestly, remembering the kiss herself was excruciating enough when he was sat next to her looking so gorgeous and there was nothing she could do about it, she didn't want to have to go over the whole story with them all too. She suddenly really really wanted five minutes of fresh air, if only to cool down her flaming cheeks.

"It was for a mission, yeah," Mason said firmly.

Dorcas raised her eyebrows with a smirk. "And yet… it was her best kiss."

"Dorcas, I swear to Merlin," Lyra groaned. "Shut up."

"Not a chance!"

"In which case I am going to remove myself from this situation," Lyra countered, extracting herself from the sofa and tugging her skirt back down with an awkward cough, still feeling Mason's eyes on her. "And let you all continue this game while I go to the toilet."

She shot Dorcas a look to tell her that she wasn't really mad at her, and Dorcas nodded subtly back as Lyra picked her way through the beer cans, scattered cushions and wrapping paper and slipped away.

Once she was out of the room, the protests began again, with Marlene jumping off Sirius' lap to throw a pillow at Mason's head angrily.

"Ask her OUT you git!" she hissed, "Or I'll ask her for you!"

Peter peered around Marlene to nod, "I kind of agree, why haven't you asked her already?"

"And I should know who's snogging my sister!" Sirius added, outraged.

Mason pointed a finger at him, "Are you trying to tell me you're not going to shag my sister tonight?"

Sirius fell back with a grumble, James sniggered at him.

"But your resolution!" Marlene whined. "Guys, his resolution is to ask her out this year!"

"There you go!" Lily grinned, "Get it done on day two! It's like a birthday gift on top of that!"

Mason groaned and tipped his head back, closing his eyes for a moment as he tried to work out how to explain this to his friends. He did want to ask her out – he thought about it daily, hourly, even – but the 'what if's were fairly overwhelming. Did they really think he'd been sat all night unbothered? Did they really think he hadn't wanted to die when he'd seen her walk in, when he'd seen her little skirt and her tight top, when she'd sat next to him and he was sure he could feel her outline on the sofa next to him and her eyes burning into him?

"It's not that simple," he went with, voice weak.

"Yeah it is," Dorcas said bluntly, "You go and find her now, you ask her out, she says yes and then we all look the other way when you vanish upstairs for an hour or so."

"Dorcas," Lily wrinkled her nose, "Only an hour?"

Dorcas hooted with laughter.

"Guys, seriously, you think I've not debated this?" Mason sighed, straightening up and swilling the last of his drink around before draining it. "It just wouldn't work. With the Auror stuff, and the Order too, she's got her own problems on top of that," Mason mumbled, realising with horror that Sirius might not be aware of his brother's current position even if Lyra was. "We're friends right now, good friends, and I think it should stay that way."

"Bull. Shit." Lily got up and shifted Harry onto her hip. "James, back me up here?"

"Yeah, she's right, that's absolute shite, mate," James shrugged. "Why? Why should it stay that way?"

Mason laughed nervously. He wasn't sure how to explain that Lyra was the only person who was aware of how much he was struggling and who had seen him freak out, come into the office on no sleep or agreed to tell him when he was being paranoid at work. Over the few months since their kiss, it hadn't come up again: he'd been on that disastrous date with Jon, they'd both settled into a routine and had completed so many more missions together that they moved automatically when they duelled. They had inside jokes, she teased him about his caffeine addiction and he mocked her whenever she accidentally did some weird habit she'd learned from her parents, he looked forward to work even if the work itself was horrible and depressing and upsetting because he knew she'd be there with a practical outlook and some shitty baking her and Dorcas had attempted the night before. He liked her a lot – not just because he was attracted to her, not just because he wanted to date her, he just liked her and enjoyed being around her. And if he asked her out and she didn't feel the same way, or if she did and it went horribly wrong, he'd lose that. And he really didn't want to lose that.

"It's too risky," he said after a long pause. "I don't want to lose her as a friend, okay?"

Lily shot a soft look across the room to her husband and then looked back at Mason, her emerald eyes warm. "If it's a relationship that's meant to last, you don't lose them as a friend by telling them how you feel."

"Precisely," James concurred, "You just also get to have sex with your best friend!"

"Way to ruin a moment, sweetheart," Lily tutted.

"James, I dunno who you're talking about because we've not been having sex?" Sirius frowned. "Marlene isn't into that."

"Jesus Christ, guys," Dorcas sniggered, glancing at Mason who was suppressing laughter. "You killed it."

"James is an idiot, but he's right," Marlene added, playing with one of Sirius' messy curls affectionately. "It's never a bad thing to combine sex and friendship."

In a surprisingly tender moment, Sirius tugged her closer and kissed her with a grin, making her giggle.

"Gross," Mason muttered.

"Gross but for once they're right, I mean it, Mase," Lily laughed, smoothing Harry's tufty hair down. "Especially these days. It's hard enough as it is without denying yourself that much happiness."

"I'm gonna be gross and cute and cheesy and just say it," Dorcas said, draining her beer. "She likes you, you twat, and I've told you this! She's told me! She thinks about you! You'd not be turned down! And believe me, I give her the same advice as this, so this is absolutely not just one-sided lecturing."

"That's what you call cute?" Mason snorted.

Dorcas gave him a look. "You know what I mean!"

He sighed. "I do, and thank you guys, I know I should do it, it's just hard."

"But well worth it, I promise," Lily chuckled, "Now I'm going to find the girl in question and put this little rascal to bed. Say goodnight, Harry!"

Harry gurgled and clapped his hands together happily at the sound of his name and everyone chorused their goodnights back to the baby, Marlene blowing kisses from where she was now curled up on Sirius' lap, his hand brushing her side gently. Lily laughed, her long hair shifting back over her shoulder as she slipped away to put her son to bed, giving Mason a final stern look as she exited.

Mason chuckled and opened the can that Peter tossed to him, deciding that he definitely did need another drink after that conversation.

Lily had clearly passed Lyra in the hallway and checked on her because Lyra reappeared, fussing with her hair and twisting it into a messy bun for something to do with her hands, picking up her glass again and dropping into the space by Mason that was still free. She flashed him a little smile, the cold air outside having cleared her head enough that she felt she could get through the rest of the evening without saying or doing something ridiculous.

"So I take it truth or dare is over?" Marlene grinned, winking at Mason.

Lyra laughed, "I don't think I was very good at it, so that might be for the best."

"Next time," Peter grinned, "It's tradition at this point."

"Speaking of tradition, we're going to head out," Sirius said, lifting Marlene up and standing up to stretch.

"How is that tradition?" Lyra frowned.

Dorcas rolled her eyes. "Sirius and Marlene inevitably leave parties early to go and have sex, at least this time they're not sneaking and pretending we don't know they're doing it."

Marlene and Sirius both protested weakly as the others laughed, but they could hardly deny it.

"Just go home and do it, don't wake the baby," James sniggered, pushing his glasses up his nose lazily.

"Noted, Prongs," Sirius grinned, tugging Marlene towards the door as Dorcas stole the armchair they'd been seated in so she didn't have to sit on the floor.

Everyone chorused their goodnights to the couple and Marlene kissed Mason's cheek quickly as they hurried past, wishing him a good end to his birthday before they vanished, Marlene laughing loudly at something (most likely inappropriate) that Sirius had said.

"God, I wish that were me," Dorcas grinned, "Raise a glass to those of us not having regular sex."

Peter, Lyra and Mason all lifted their glasses with a laugh, joining Dorcas in a mock moment of silence.

"Can't relate," James sighed dramatically

"WE GET IT!" Dorcas groaned, "You're infuriating. I'm so glad I wasn't friends with you guys when you first got together."

"It was horrific," Peter agreed, "It was honestly worse than Padfoot and Marlene have ever been, there was so much built up tension that we thought Gryffindor tower was going to collapse from shock when they finally got together."

Lyra smiled at James as she leaned forwards and tentatively took a beer, deciding she wanted to try some even if she didn't get drunk. "How did you guys get together? I always heard you hated each other."

"Nah, they didn't," Mason chuckled, "It was… dislike. They just didn't understand each other for a long time."

James' expression turned soft. "Whenever I remember that I get to be her husband, it blows my mind. Sixth year James would never have believed it!"

Peter and James trailed off into reminiscing about their last year at Hogwarts as Mason leaned over to Lyra, who was about to take a tip of the can.

"Are you actually drinking? Please don't feel you have to just because we are! We're not even that drunk! I'm barely tipsy!"

Lyra snorted, "You're more drunk than you think you are, Mason, I promise you that. And no, honestly, I don't feel I have to. I just… want to."

"A first, surely?"

"Kind of," she smiled, tucking her legs under herself and glancing down at the Muggle beer. "I guess I always thought it was a bad thing. People got shouty or aggressive when they were drunk and I guess I assumed it was the drink not the person. You guys just get… sleepy and affectionate when you're drinking, which is much nicer. I'd like that."

"Well then I'm glad," Mason grinned, "And I'm very curious as to what you think of it."

Lyra wrinkled her nose up at him and took a tiny, tentative sip. She swallowed and then grimaced, trying to clear her mouth of the taste.

"Oh Merlin, that's awful! Why do you guys drink this stuff?!"

Mason laughed loudly, pulling himself up off the sofa and offering her his hand. "Come on, we'll go and raid their alcohol cupboard and find something you like."

Lyra placed the beer on the edge of the coffee table and took his hand gratefully, following him away from their friends and into the kitchen just off the living room. The peace and quiet and the cooler temperature calmed her nerves and her bare feet on the tiles warded off any heat that might've risen from being alone with him after everything that had gone down that evening.

Mason opened one of the cabinets and started looking through the bottles there, inspecting some of the labels with a little frown as she hopped up onto the side to watch him, crossing her legs at her ankles and tipped her head to the side. They weren't out of view of their friends – the whole downstairs of the Potters' house was open plan – but the lights were off in the kitchen and most of the chatter was inaudible so she felt much further away than she actually was. Examining him again, she smiled softly, amused by his previous insistence that he wasn't drunk when it was obvious that he was well on his way.

"Aha! Gin! Knew they'd have some somewhere. I bet you'd like this, let me see," he said triumphantly, grabbing a glass from the shelf and pouring her a small measure and topping it up with the Schloer from before, handing it to her with a grin.

She sniffed it curiously and then took a sip, pausing to work out whether she liked it. "Well it's better than the beer, that's for sure. I can't really taste the alcohol."

"Nah, I didn't put much in, if you've never really drank or haven't in ages it's not going to take much to have an effect," he chuckled, leaning against the counter opposite her.

Lyra laughed and nodded, "I'm definitely a lightweight, that's for sure."

Mason laughed too and didn't even notice as Lily came back into the room. "I think seeing you drunk would be really funny."

"Nah, the time I was closest to being drunk I was just really tired and wanted to nap," Lyra laughed. "It'd be very boring, I promise."

Lily slipped over to the others still in the living room and James pulled her down next to him and kissed her softly.

"Where are Mason and Lyra?" Lily asked, glancing around.

Peter pointed through to the kitchen, where the pair were still chatting, Lyra sipping her drink happily. Giggling, Lily leaned back against James' chest and rolled her eyes.

"He's such an idiot. Look at them now and tell me she'd say no if he asked her out!"

"They're adorable," Peter agreed.

James wrapped his arms around his wife and yawned. "They are. And oblivious. Wonder who out of their friends has some experience in that? Can't think."

She nudged him with a laugh, "Let's cut them some slack. Ours was a long time coming, I don't think either of them expected this."

"I wonder if he really thinks they'll stay just friends?" Peter mused.

"Well he's not looking at her like I look at my friends, let's put it that way," James smirked.

Dorcas had stayed quiet, watching Lyra and Mason softly. "She's not either. I know she knows she fancies him, but I don't know if she realises quite how much. I don't think she's ever really entertained her feelings like this before. She's basically been chained to Avery her entire life."

"And I don't know anyone more deserving of this than Mason," James added darkly, "It doesn't take a genius to see he's been spiralling. I worry about him."

Lily shook her head. "None of that, please? Not tonight. Look, he's happy, we're happy, I'm having a lot of fun watching them flirt, I don't want to think about anything else just now."

James muttered an apology and kissed her hair.

Lyra must've felt the eyes on them, because she finally looked away from Mason and blushed, quickly hopping back down off the counter and slipping back over to the others who quickly started another conversation to avoid being caught discussing the couple, leaving Mason in the dark in the other room watching them and taking a minute to compose his thoughts.

The last few birthdays since leaving Hogwarts had always felt hollow. He'd either been needed at work, hadn't had the energy to try and celebrate or not enough of his friends had been free around the right time but this year everything seemed to have fallen into place and he was eternally grateful: sure, Remus hadn't been able to make it, being busy with something he'd not really explained; sure, he had work in the morning and there would no doubt be something depressing to read the moment he got in; sure, he hadn't said anything to Lyra about how he felt yet, but he knew he would soon; he'd had a night free of the paranoia and fear that seemed to follow him these days and he'd seen his friends and got to talk to Lyra outside of work and that was more than he could've possibly asked for. He knew he would go home and actually sleep, too.

And so when he rejoined them for the last hour of his birthday, he felt, for once, completely content.