Wednesday 1st September 1976

Hogwarts Express, 11:00

Regulus blinked as the train jerked forwards. Eleven o'clock already? He checked his watch, looked like it. They (meaning he and his parents not him and Sirius) had arrived at half ten. They could do that because there were no arguments between Sirius and, well, anyone. It made the morning go a lot smoother and he basically got first dibs on a carriage. Which he had promptly done so. And then almost equally as promptly fallen asleep. Which was mortifying but he couldn't help it. He was just. So. Tired. Exhausted even.

This summer had been anything but relaxing. Father had insisted that he study even more this summer and had been extremely hard on any mistakes he made. This, obviously, made Regulus not want to make mistakes and study even harder and for longer. The longer bit might have been a mistake because Regulus didn't think he had slept properly for a month. Hence the sleeping on the train and these seats weren't even that comfortable!

But sleep he had and he hoped it hadn't been for long. Imagine if someone saw him. That would definitely not be good.

So, he straightened himself up and smoothed put the creases in his robe. He did have pride in his appearance, after all. Regulus frowned as his shiny, new Prefect's badge got caught on a fold. He prised it loose and shook out his robe. There. Much better.

"Ouch!" He hissed as he stabbed himself with the pin.

He was just about to settle back and maybe contemplate taking a book out when the door to his carriage was flung open.

"There you are," Amycus said in an exasperated tone. "We've been looking everywhere for you."

Obviously not as he wasn't in a carriage at either end of the train so they would have had to pass him at least once.

"Well, I haven't moved."

"Whatever," he stuck his head out the carriage and shouted, "Hey! Alecto! He's in here!"

Regulus flinched. Why did they have to be so uncouth? Had they not realised by now how poor their behaviour was?

"What?"

"He's here!"

"Who's here?"

"Regulus!"

No. No they had not. Of course, they hadn't. They seemed to be quite impervious to hints. Alecto appeared at the door.

"Oh, you're awake now?"

Amycus spluttered at her, "You found him?"

"Yes. But he was sleeping."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you would have woken him up!"

And then they went back to bickering with each other. Regulus shook his head. He didn't think they would ever change.

Marauders' Carriage, 12:30

"I can't believe you're Quidditch Captain," Peter said admiringly, particularly taken by the shiny, shield badge on James' robes.

They had just got changed into their school uniform and James made sure to have the shiny shield be very prominent on his chest. It had to he just so.

Remus held back his chuckle. He was like that last year when he got his Prefect's badge - though he had been less obvious about it than James had been.

Sirius, on the other hand, did not even bother to hide his eye roll. Then again, he had been with James when they got their Hogwarts letters so he had got the brunt of James' initial excitement.

"He even polished it," he confided to Remus in exasperation.

"I polish my badge," Remus retorted.

That was how you looked after metal, after all, and you didn't want it to get all dull and smudged looking.

"Yeah, but you're...you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You take the utmost care with everything."

"Utmost?" Peter repeated in confusion, only to be ignored.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Remus retorted.

The two of them devolved into bickering until Remus had to leave for his patrol of the train.

Thursday 2nd September 1976

Gryffindor Table, Great Hall, 08:00

Getting their timetables took a bit longer than usual this year. McGonagall had to make sure that people's grades were enough for the subjects they wanted to take. It seemed to take her an absolute age to get to them. They had really picked a bad spot on the table today.

She almost got to them when she decided to have a full-blown conversation with Smith. Was that really necessary?

After all that waiting, they got sorted out insultingly quickly in Sirius' opinion. He and James had been cleared for Defence, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms and Herbology. Remus was also doing Defence, Transfiguration and Charms but instead of the other two, he was doing Healing and Warding. Warding being one of the few NEWT level only subjects in Hogwarts. Alchemy was another. Peter caused a bit of trouble as he was advised not to take charms like he wanted. He ended up taking four, Transfiguration, Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures and Potions.

"Do you think I could return my Charms textbook to Flourish and Blotts?" Peter asked as they got up from the table.

Sirius shrugged. Did Flourish and Blotts even have a return policy?

"I'm sure you could," Remus said. "You don't need it anymore."

"Yeah," Peter said with a sigh.

"Hey, it's one less subject to revise for," James encouraged him.

"I guess..." Peter said doubtfully. "But that means I only have two subjects with all of you."

He had the nerve to give Sirius a betrayed look. Sirius had also been going to take Muggle Studies but had forgotten that he needed Herbology to become an Auror. And there was no way he was taking six NEWTs.

Monday 6th September 1976

Gryffindor Common Room, 18:45

Marlene absentmindedly looked at all the other bits of parchment that were already on the noticeboard (how had someone already lost their tie?) while Lily rummaged through her pockets for a quill.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked just as Lily was about to put quill to parchment.

Lily spun around with her hands on her hips.

"If you don't want to do this, Marlene, just say so."

Marlene put her hands in the air. "I want to do this." Lily gave her a doubtful look. "I really do."

"Well, you're not acting like it."

Okay, maybe she wasn't as enthusiastic about this whole thing like Lily was. But that didn't mean she didn't want to do it. It should be fun. Hopefully. To be honest, Marlene didn't even know if she could sing. But she was willing to give it a try. Hey, she couldn't be awful, could she? She figured she would have realised that by now.

"Do you want me to jump up and down and clap my hands?" she asked sarcastically.

Lily rolled her eyes at her and almost stabbed her with the quill with the way she thrust it at her.

"Just stick your name down."

Obligingly, Marlene did so.

"Didn't we already try this in second year or something."

"We missed the auditions or lost interest or something."

"Sounds about right."

They were just about to leave when a voice interrupted them.

"Can I borrow your quill?"

It was Smith. Not shadowing MacDonald for a change. Huh. Marlene didn't know that that was possible.

"Oh, are you joining the choir too, Alice?" Lily asked.

Marlene bit her lip so the old nickname didn't slip out. Lily told her off if she did.

"Yes. I thought I would give it a go this year."

She then proceeded to sign the sign-up parchment with a ridiculous, loopy signature.

"It sounds fun."

"I've always enjoyed singing," Lily told her. "I used to sing in the church choir when I was little."

"Was it fun?"

"Yeah, there were all these songs with loads of actions."

Marlene had to stop herself from snorting at the look of horror on Smith's face. Apparently doing actions while singing was not something she wanted to sign up for. Actually, neither did Marlene now that she thought about it. There was sounding ridiculous and looking ridiculous. You couldn't have both - it would be impossible.

As if sensing their thoughts (or seeing their rather blatant looks of revulsion) Lily was quick to reassure them, "Of course, that was a children's choir. One for under tens. We aren't children anymore so I doubt it will be anything like that."

"It better not be," Marlene grumbled, already feeling regret about her decision.

Wednesday 8th September 1976

Gryffindor Common Room, 19:00

"Hey, McKinnon?" James waylaid her just as she entered the Common Room. "Got a second?"

"Sure."

He brought her to a surprisingly empty corner. There was a very serious look on his face.

"You thinking of trying out for the Quidditch team?"

She stared at him for a second before she understood what he was saying.

"Me?"

"Well, I'm not talking to anyone else, am I?" he said impatiently.

She blew a raspberry at him for that. Idiot.

"Yeah, I was thinking of trying out. There's a few positions open, aren't there?"

"From someone graduating, there's Seeker. And then there's a Beater position and the Chasers are going to try out again in case there's someone better." James explained. "You should go for Beater."

Marlene's eyebrows rose. That was definitely not what she had been expecting.

"Beater? Aren't Yaxley and Black the Beaters?"

"Pad- Sirius is still Beater. Yaxley wants to try out for Seeker now that Prewitt's left."

"Oh."

If anything, she would have thought that she would make a decent Seeker. Marlene never would have considered the Beater role as a viable position for her in a team. Girls weren't Beaters.

"You could always challenge him for the spot," James suggested. "But I think you'd make a better Beater."

"Just because I've played it in a few pickup games does not make me a good Beater."

He shrugged. "You've got good aim and after a few practices and drills you'll have the stamina and strength too."

"I don't know..."

"Oh, come on, McKinnon, you're one of the few people I know who practically attacks the bludgers with no fear whatsoever."

"But, Beater?" she said doubtfully.

James shrugged. "It's the only position open, realistically. Unless one of the other two chasers completely stuff up the try-outs. And the seeker position obviously."

Which definitely wasn't likely to happen. They were too good a team. And from the sound of it, James didn't want her to be the Seeker for some reason. So, she asked him.

"Yaxley's really fast," James said bluntly. "Like, really fast. I don't think anyone else has a chance at it."

"Ah."

James was usually right about these things. And the Beater position did sound intriguing...

"I'll give it a go," she found herself saying.

James gave her the biggest of smiles. "Brilliant. I'll see you there!"

Marlene waved as he darted back over to his friends, talking excitedly. What had she just let herself in for?

Thursday 9th September 1976

Hospital Wing, 07:00

"Hmm."

"I'm fine, Madam Pomfrey."

"I'll be the judge of that, young man."

Remus sighed helplessly as the nurse cast a few more spells over him. He surreptitiously glanced over to the corner of the room where he had seen a brief flutter of his friends' legs. They really were too big now to get all four of them under it.

Eventually, Madam Pomfrey was satisfied with the level of care she provided him with a returned to her office. Remus waited a bit before nodding.

"Thank Merlin," Sirius whispered as James lifted the Cloak off them. "It's hot under there."

"It's all the hot air you blow," Peter teased only to get put into a headlock by Sirius.

James was not watching any of that to foolery, instead he was staring at Remus with folded arms, an unimpressed look on his face. Knowing what James was thinking, Remus gave him a sheepish look in return.

"Seriously?" James complained.

"I forgot!" Remus said at the same time.

"You forgot? How could you forget?"

"We've been on holiday the last two months!"

"Honestly, to forget about your friends," Sirius tutted, shaking his head.

Remus had enough strength to throw a pillow at him.

"Do you know how hard it is to open a door when you don't have any thumbs?"

"At least I remembered to take the charms and wards off the door," Remus said defensively.

"I don't know why you're the one complaining, I was the one who had to do the actual opening because of your stupid hooves," Sirius told him.

"Well, excuse me if my hooves just slip straight off."

"I still think you should have kicked the door in," Peter added his opinion into the mix. "Stags are strong enough to do that. I read about it."

"And how would we have explained that to Madam Pomfrey?"

What Peter said just sank in for Remus and a flood of panic went through him.

"Wait, did you all transform back to humans to discuss this?" He hissed with wide eyes.

"Of course not," James quickly put his mind at ease. "We were complaining about it this morning."

"A lot of complaining," Peter added.

"You didn't have to do anything either!" Sirius complained. "It was all me."

"And you saved the day, Padfoot," James said with a straight face.

"Damn right I did!"

Unfortunately, he said that a bit too loud and it attracted the attention of Madam Pomfrey.

"What have I told you boys?" she scolded as she made a beeline for them to shoo them out. "He needs his rest which means you shouldn't be here!"

"But-"

"Out!"

Saturday 11th September 1976

Library, 11:00

Frank frowned at his so-called friends. His friends that were definitely not doing any work despite them being the ones who asked him for help.

Didn't they realise that this was a big assignment? And it was their final hear? NEWTs were mere months away. They couldn't waste a second!

Yet, here they were fooling around in the library of all places. He didn't want to be kicked out!

Elsie did this weird snort-shriek thing at something Jasper said and somehow Julian managed to knock over two textbooks.

"Can you all calm down?" he asked irritably.

There were no way adults should be behaving this way in the library.

"Come on, Frank, it's the weekend!" Josie told him.

"Just because it's the weekend doesn't mean we don't have any work to do."

Because they did. A lot of it. He could see why NEWTs were called "Nastily Exhausting" because the work hadn't let up. And it was only September!

"You need to relax," Jasper advised him.

Frank gave him am unimpressed look. He would have plenty of time to relax when they no longer had any homework. I.e., when their exams were well and truly over in June. Didn't any of them understand that?

Sunday 12th September 1976

Slytherin Table, Great Hall, 10:00

Severus sighed and poked at his porridge with his spoon. He was trying not to look across the Hall at the Gryffindor Table. Not exactly being successful about that either.

No, he and Lily had not made up yet. Far from it. She hadn't even looked at him, never mind talked to him.

Was she very going to? Did he even deserve to have her talk to him again? Probably not. But he did want her to talk to him. Wanting something and not getting it, that was something Severus understood very well. He should be used to it by now.

"You still pining over Evans?" Mulciber said with a snort. "You did the right thing last year, you know."

Severus glared at him. He very well did not do the right thing last year. He had done the worst thing.

"People like her are a waste of space," Avery added with a self-assured nod.

How on earth could Severus had ever wanted their friendship? Were they always just bad or was it happening all at once? Had he really been that blind?

"Just wait until the Dark Lord puts things through," Mulciber bragged. "He'll have everyone back in their proper place."

Unable to stand it anymore, Severus put down his spoon and stood up. May as well get on with his day, he had kind of lost his appetite.

"Where are you going?" Avery asked. "You've barely touched your porridge."

"I'm done," he said shortly.

Friday 16th September 1976

Gryffindor Table, Great Hall 08:00

'Gruesome Sight as Aurors Are Attacked'

Were there really more awful headlines this year or was this the first time he was properly paying attention? He hoped it was the latter, quite frankly, because that meant a little less tragedy.

That was yet another Auror team to be picked up in pieces, apparently. Remus' stomach turned at the thought.

How did someone even manage to do magic that did that sort of thing? You had to be a special kind of twisted. Something he couldn't imagine at all. And he was supposed to be the wild animal here.

He looked down at his breakfast. Suddenly, he didn't have the stomach for the sausages he had just cut up. Or the scrambled eggs. His stomach turned just looking at them. He pushed away his plate and took a deep swim of his coffee. Maybe that would steady him a bit.

"Told you not to look at your newspaper before you ate your breakfast," Peter said knowingly.

"Wait, Remus isn't eating breakfast?" James asked.

Remus grumbled from behind his mug. He did not need James fussing at him this morning.

"I'm fine," he told him. "Just, don't read the news before you eat."

That made James frown and look suspiciously down at his still folded paper. Sirius snatched it away from him and stashed it under the table.

"There. You can have it back after we all eat."

Remus wished someone had done that for him. A bowl of porridge appeared in front of him. Peter retracted his hand and picked up his own fork.

"You need something before lessons," he said matter-of-factly.

Sunday 18th September 1976

Fourth Floor Corridor, 12:30

Finally, it was time for lunch. Honestly, the morning had just seemed to drag on and on. Nothing exciting had happened during lessons today at all. It had all been theory, theory and more theory. Even in Transfiguration! It was so boring.

Yes, James definitely needed a break to do something. Maybe pull a quick prank of some sort? Something to let off a little steam. There was that squeaky shoe spell they had found the other day... Too tame to be a proper prank but just for a little bit of fun...

Evans walked past, not paying him the time of day. As usual. He straightened up and sent her a smile anyway, just in case.

Remus gave him an odd look.

"What on earth are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

He wasn't doing anything. Well, he was talking to them but that wasn't weird and definitely shouldn't earn him that weird look.

Sirius snorted and rolled his eyes. "You know what he's talking about."

James shook his head, confused. "I don't."

"You know what I'm talking about?" Remus asked Sirius.

"I do, he's being doing it since last year."

"What have I been doing?"

We're they trying to wind him up? They were doing a good job of it.

Sirius glanced down the corridor. "Wait a minute and it will happen again."

"What am I doing?"

They were interrupted by Evans and Marlene walking past, not paying them any attention. James ran his hand through his hair nervously and gave a smile.

"See!" Sirius exclaimed, whirling around to Remus.

"I saw," Remus said solemnly.

"What? What did you see?" James swivelled his head around, looking rather idiotic as he did so. "I don't see anything."

Peter took pity on him and answered, "It's because we're looking at you."

"Me? Why are you looking at me?"

"Well, it's not because of your looks," Sirius muttered, making Remus snorted.

"I'm perfectly handsome, thank you very much."

"Whatever," Remus dismissed. "We're looking at you because you're doing something very weird."

"I'm not doing anything weird!"

"So, you don't count this -" Peter forcefully shoved his hand through his hair, "- as weird?"

"Don't forget that awkward smile thing he does," Sirius added.

"I can't copy that."

James crossed his arms and pouted. "I don't look like that."

"No, you look more ridiculous than that."

Remus and Peter nodded in agreement.

"I don't!"

Sirius patted him sympathetically on the shoulder.

"It's okay, Prongs. We know you have a bad case of Evans-itis."

Tuesday 21st September 1976

Gryffindor Common Room, 15:00

Sirius looked up anxiously at the clock. Every time he looked at it, time seemed to pass faster and faster. How was that even possible? But it did and he was no closer to figuring out what he should do than he was at the start of today. It had been all he could think about. He'd lost several points because of it. Not that that really mattered. What mattered was what he was going to do. Which he didn't know. Oh, he was just going around in circles.

What didn't improve his mood was James suddenly appearing beside him. He was fine because there was just him. Nothing to organise there.

"What are you doing for Mabon?" James asked quietly, his face still stained with plum juice.

He had eaten an unholy amount of them at lunch and stashed some in his pockets. Sirius hadn't realised how much James liked the fruit. Bit of wonder he was always happy at Mabon - plums, peaches and apricots were piled high at each meal as a part of the celebration.

Sirius shrugged, not sure himself. Regulus had made it quite clear that he didn't want Sirius anywhere near him despite being the Sabbat. Why was James even asking? It wasn't like it concerned him any.

James ran his hands through his hair nervously, making Sirius raise an eyebrow.

"Um, do you, would you like to join me and Frank for the ritual?"

"What?"

Sirius hadn't meant to sound so blunt but why on earth would James even offer such a thing? It was supposed to be a Sabbat just for your family. It was only a minor one, after all.

"Want to join me and Frank? The two of us do minor Sabbats together, you know, because our families are Allies."

"But ours aren't," Sirius pointed out the obvious in confusion.

"Nooo," James admitted. "But that doesn't mean you can't join in."

"I'm the Black Heir, James. That wouldn't exactly look good."

Not that he really cared about his family looking good. But still. This sort of thing just wasn't done.

"No one's going to know."

That brought Sirius up short. No one would know, he supposed. It wasn't like you advertised who you performed the minor sabbats with. There was just one other problem.

"What about Longbottom? Won't he mind?"

James shook his head. "No. He won't."

Sirius couldn't help but give him a sceptical look.

"He won't," James insisted.

"Have you asked him?"

"Well, no..."

"James!"

"He really won't mind! Do you want to celebrate Mabon alone?"

"No..."

"Then, come on!" James unceremoniously grabbed him by the hand and dragged him out of the Common Room against his will. Sirius wasn't sure what that said about them when no one else thought that this was a problem.

Empty Classroom, Second Floor, 15:20

Frank raised an eyebrow as James slipped into the room with Black following him.

"Sirius is joining us," James announced before he could question anything.

There was something in his voice that brooked no arguments, something... protective almost? And Black was looking incredibly nervous. Frank didn't think that Black could feel nervousness. It was all very odd.

"Is that okay?" James added when Frank didn't answer fast enough for his liking.

Somehow, Frank didn't think that Black's inclusion was a request. Not that it mattered. Sure, it was a bit outside the norm but if James felt strongly enough to want Black to be included then Black would be included. The more the merrier and all that.

"Sure," Frank agreed easily.

He would get the whole story from James later but having Black with them was okay with him. He knew how close he and James were.

"I suppose you know the ritual?" he said teasingly towards Black.

The younger boy apparently did not puck up on the teasing because he bristled indignantly.

"Of course, I do!"

"He's teasing, Padfoot," James explained.

"Oh."

Watching Black deflate was quite amusing. And as much as he would like to tease him further, time was rather getting on a bit.

"Well, let's get this done, then, shall we?" Frank suggested, rolling up his sleeves.

"Yes please," James said eager as Black just nodded rather sharply.

Saturday 24th September 1976

Hogwarts Grounds, 11:30

James sighed happily as he rested his head against the tree. Oh, how lovely it was to just enjoy being outside. It had seemed to take forever to get to the weekend but now it was and there wasn't too much homework waiting for them. Little enough that even Remus felt fine coming outside, though he had brought their Defence textbook out with him. Then again, he read that thing for fun.

It was nice to just do nothing and let your mind wander sometimes and that was exactly what he was going to do. Or maybe think up some pranks - they hadn't done any big ones yet and that was some sort of tragedy that would have to be resolved and soon.

Would it involve the whole school or just one House? Maybe cycle through the Houses to keep everyone on their toes? Or maybe do the boys and then do the girls. James didn't think they had done a prank that way yet...

Oh, maybe they should do the Professors! Give everyone a laugh! That would be good and very much needed. There hadn't been a lot of reasons to laugh recently. Horrible and even more horrible news kept filtering through the safe walls of Hogwarts. Everyone was anxious and nervous. They would have to do something to rectify that. Even if it was only briefly.

Absentmindedly, he started ripping at the grass - needing to keep his hands occupied and he had left his practice snitch inside. It was soothing. And it made a pretty cool ripping noise.

"Don't throw that at me," Sirius warned him, without opening his eyes.

He had stretched himself out on the grass on his back, soaking up the sun.

"Now, there's an idea..."

"No."

That would take too much effort anyway. Maybe he would make a pile and see how big he could get it. And then he could bury Sirius in it or something. That would be funny.

James looked down at the long bits of grass in his hand and gave them a contemplative look. What did grass actually taste like? It looked kind of nice, all lush and green...

Not fully comprehending what he was doing, James started chewing on the end of a bit. Huh. He swallowed. That, that wasn't bad. He took a bigger bite. Tasty even. Weird. Who would have thought? He had thought it was poisonous or something but it didn't make him feel bad at all.

Too bad he forgot that he wasn't alone.

"Prongs, what the fuck?" Sirius exclaimed.

"Language," James said reflexively and then raised an eyebrow. "And please, we all saw you bury that chicken bone the other day."

"We did," Remus agreed, not looking up. "Bur wasn't it a bone from those ribs we got on Wednesday for dinner?"

"Does it really matter? It was still a bone!"

Sirius sighed. "Point...wait," his eyes narrowed. "You saw?"

Now that made Remus look up, a look of complete exasperation on his face. "Padfoot, no one is going to steal your bone."

James and Peter nodded in agreement. It was probably all nasty and dirty anyway. That, of course did not stop Sirius from standing up indignantly.

"Damn right they won't," he growled. "Everyone, close your eyes!"

"Padfoot, you're being ridiculous..."

"I'm not! Ridiculous would be keeping it there where Merlin know people would move it to so now, I have to move it."

With that he stomped off across the grounds, heading straight for the greenhouses.

"Is he okay?" Peter asked hesitantly.

"No." James and Remus replied in unison.

Tuesday 27th September 1976

Transfiguration Corridor, 14:30

Remus tried to ignore his friends; he really did. Despite all these years it still wasn't a skill he had managed to acquire but still he tried. Especially when James and Sirius were bickering like this. Over something completely nonsensical and stupid. But of course, they thought it mattered. Shockingly, it didn't.

"I'm Minnie's favourite," Sirius bragged.

"As if," James retorted. "I am!"

"Don't lie to yourself, Prongs. It doesn't look good on you."

Remus didn't even know how the concept of being McGonagall's favourite had come up. They had been in class all day. But, of course, that didn't stop these two. Remus doubted that either of them were her favourite because of the amount of trouble they caused her. Oh, she was definitely fond of them but that didn't necessarily translate into being her favourite.

"You're the one who's lying to yourself."

"Keep dreaming."

"Yeah, I'm dreaming that you are wrong."

That didn't even make any sense but it would be a bad idea to point it out. Remus refused to get drawn into this.

"No. I am obviously the better of the pair of us. McGonagall likes me better. Obviously."

"Well, I'm Quidditch Captain, so..."

McGonagall chose then to walk past.

"Mr Lupin is obviously my favourite, boys." she told them without stopping.

James and Sirius looked each other, a brief look of outrage flickering across their faces, and then they shrugged.

"That's fair," Sirius agreed.

"Annoying, though," James added.

"It's because I'm not annoying," Remus told them.