December 4, 1979

Weeks turned into months, and seemingly before Althea had even realized it Christmas was around the corner. It was strange, how her life had become monotonous. There were occasional bouts of spontaneity but generally everything was achingly boring. Of course, much of the spontaneity involved her relationship with Remus or her tumultuous relationship with Lily. Somehow, through Dumbledore, Remus and Althea had been able to escape to Spain for a week away before regrettably they had to be called back. It was in the autumn that Althea's relationship with Lily changed.

Lily was pregnant.

The redhead had confided in Althea about the pregnancy and the prophecy surrounding a child born in July (which just so happened to be Lily's due date), and then revealed that she had to go into hiding. Honestly, Althea wasn't even sure why Lily had confided in her. Things had been rocky between the two of them, and Althea personally believed that Lily should be keeping the pregnancy a secret as much as possible. Even if that meant that Lily shouldn't have even told her.

Even if it meant that the rest of the Marauders couldn't, or shouldn't, know.

Which, by extension, meant that Althea should have been keeping it a secret from Remus. But she didn't. She couldn't. If Remus knew, he wouldn't keep it a secret from her, she was certain of that. It didn't seem that Lily was all that concerned with secrecy, either. She wasn't really making an effort to hide it, despite the fact that Althea thought that she should. It wasn't wrong for Lily to be happy and excited because she was expecting, and it wasn't wrong for her to want to tell all of her friends and flaunt it. But in a situation like the one they were currently in, Althea didn't think it was the best course of action.

Even as autumn turned into winter, Lily made no effort to disguise the burgeoning baby bump. It was getting a little irritating, if Althea were to be quite honest. Shouldn't they be hiding it? They were on the top of Voldemort's hit list, if such a thing existed. It was hard to keep the scowl off of her face as winter settled firmly over England, and snow blanketed the streets. Althea flicked through one of the many books Aubrey had supplied her with, jotting down notes and spell ideas. Aubrey had been intent on making sure that Althea was well-instructed in the art of spellmaking before she ever actually tried to create a spell. Spell creation was a very delicate art and in the creation of a spell if anything were to go wrong, there would be serious ramifications. As in injuries. Possibly even death. That was why Aubrey was being so cautious with Althea, and why Althea, herself, was being cautious too. At any rate they were supplying the spells to the Order, and so the spells had to be perfect.

Althea dropped the feathered quill, wiggling her aching fingers. She had been writing for hours now. She supposed that it was only fair, then, that she take a break. A hand brushed against her lower back and Althea startled before relaxing once she realized it was Remus. She smiled up at him, tilting her head upwards as he bent down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

"How is your spellwork coming along," Remus asked gently, sitting beside Althea.

"Slowly," Althea answered. "But Aubrey thinks that I'm making progress."

"That's good, isn't it?"

Althea shrugged, "I don't know if it's good enough, Remmy. We're in the midst of a war, and while I'm making progress, what if it's not enough? What if it hurts the Order?" She swallowed, "I don't want to be the reason that the Order fails."

"Most people can't create spells, Althea, so the fact that you can is bloody amazing," Remus hurried to reassure her. "Dumbledore doesn't seem to mind the slow progress. Neither does the rest of the Order. Only Sirius and James are being impatient, but you know that's just how they are."

"James should worry more about his pregnant wife," Althea muttered, a little bitterly. "She's vulnerable now, and the Death Eaters will probably try to take advantage of that."

"All will be well," Remus murmured, in an attempt to reassure her.

Althea didn't reply. It was hard to believe him when it was very obvious that even he didn't believe his own words. There wasn't much that the two could say to each other and so they lapsed into silence with Althea quietly but diligently working on defensive spells. Remus, for his part, eventually got up and grabbed a book before returning to his wife's side. All in all, it was quite a quiet evening though, the next day would prove to be anything but.

Althea grasped Remus's hand tightly in her own, reluctant to let go but knowing that she would eventually have to do so. She hated how Dumbledore sent Remus on so many missions, all of them having to do with werewolves, and she sometimes wished that she could just go with him despite the danger. But Remus wouldn't allow it. He would tell her that he was just trying to keep her safe, which she wholeheartedly believed, but it didn't make her heart ache any less when he disappeared for months at a time.

As was typical at the Order meetings, Remus was one of the first to receive his assignments and Althea had to close her eyes as Dumbledore announced that Remus would be heading to join up with several werewolf packs in Romania in an attempt to sway them away from Voldemort's cause and toward the Order's. Then Sirius got his assignment, followed quickly by the Prewetts, and several other prominent members of the Order. Each assignment differed in danger, but it was painfully obvious to Althea that the assignment Remus had been given was the most dangerous and time-consuming of them all.

Apparently sensing her thoughts, Remus squeezed her hand and pulled her a little closer to him in an attempt to reassure her. Althea sagged against him, her grip on his hand tightening as if that would somehow stop him from leaving.

"Althea," Dumbledore said, and she raised her head looking at him in confusion. She was never given assignments - aside from assisting Aubrey with the creation of spells. "Aubrey tells me that you have created five new defensive spells. I would like you to start compiling all of the Order's spells into a grimoire, and once you have done that if you could go and distribute copies to the members of the Order that would be most helpful."

This was her first big assignment.

While it didn't have the same elements of danger as everyone else's it was still something that would let her contribute to the war, and so she agreed with a small smile and a nod. She wouldn't let the Order down.

When the meeting was over, Remus bent his head to whisper in her ear, "Congratulations."

She smiled bashfully, "It's not much, is it? But it's certainly important!"

"You'll do wonderful, I'm sure." Remus laughed, "You always were a bookworm, Althea. What better way to put you to use than having you create a book?"

"A grimoire," Althea emphasized.

"Grimoire, shimoire," James Potter said, appearing beside husband and wife, his own pregnant wife in tow. They were quickly joined by Sirius and Peter Pettigrew, who had grown into quite a portly young man. "Still, I suppose that it's something that needs to be done, eh, Lils?"

"A grimoire," Lily said with a scowl at her husband, "is a powerful thing, James. And it's remarkable that Althea is being entrusted with it since they are so hard to create and enchant." She turned a small, beatific smile to Althea, "I'm sure you'll do great, Thea. If you ever need help, let me know. I'll have nothing to do once James leaves for his mission."

"Of course," Althea readily agreed, though she had no real intention of following through. The less Lily had to do, the better, in her opinion. She had nothing against Lily, but Lily was pregnant and she didn't want to put any undue stress on Lily or Baby Potter. "Well, I best get to that grimoire, shant I?"

"Yes," Remus said, "and I really must be going. The packs will be suspicious if I arrive too late."

Althea turned to Remus then, staring at him a little sadly though she knew that if she asked he wouldn't go. Still, she couldn't do that. The needs of the Order were far more important than her own.

"Be careful, yes," she told him, fussing over him and wiping at the shoulders of his shirt.

Remus grabbed her hands, stilling her movements and pressed a kiss to her brow. "All will be well. I'll see you in a couple of months."

"Bye," she whispered, after he had pressed a small, chaste kiss to her lips and stepped back.

Then he Disapparated, leaving her alone with their friends.

James wrapped an arm around Althea's shoulders, "If you get lonely you can always come stay with Lily and I."

"I have a grimoire to be working on," Althea plastered a bright smile on her face, hoping that no one would call her out on how false it actually was. "I'll see you all tomorrow," she told them before she too Disapparated.

She had work to do, and the sooner she got started the better.