Monday 3rd January 1977

Corridor outside Library, 20:00

It was a good thing he had forgotten to take back a library book before Christmas. Sure, it was overdue and he had had to face the wrath of Madam Pince (and what had to be Gryffindor's first lost points of the year) but it looked like that was going to be worth it.

"Come on, we know you know something about Lupin."

Of course, hearing any of his friend's names would make him stop but Remus most of all. Sirius wasn't sure, but he always got this sort of urge to keep him safe - even though Remus was most definitely tougher than him. He jokingly called it his 'James instinct'.

Anyway, all of his sense went on high alert when he heard Remus' name. Especially when it came from that mouth. He peered carefully around the corner. Yep, that was definitely Mulciber. No one else he knew had such a slimy voice. But who was he talking to? Someone in Gryffindor? Was he picking on some kid? Sirius' hands curled into fists. Bullies. He hated them. Hated them, hated them, hated them. Especially when the bullies were the likes of Mulciber.

He heard a muttered reply and a displeased noise that could only be described as a growl from Mulciber. But now Sirius was confused. If this was just some kid Mulciber was picking, well, why wasn't he doing anything? As bad as it sounded, it would be pretty easy to push any of the younger years around - especially since Mulciber was quite intimidating looking.

So, he risked peering around the corner again and couldn't help but let his mouth fall open as he saw who exactly Mulciber was trying to persuade.

Snape. It was Snape.

Sirius thought that Mulciber and Snape got along. They always hung around each other, along with one of the Avery's. Though, if he was being honest, Sirius didn't think he had seen Snape hang around much of anyone recently. The guy was a loner. Even more so than he had been in first year, which was saying something.

But what did Snape know about Remus? Had they been careless and said something stupid? Did he follow them or something? Or was this about something else? But what else could it be?

"What's it going to take, Snape?" Avery finally asked.

Huh, Sirius hadn't realised he was there.

"Nothing because it's none of your business."

Avery made a scoffing noise.

"Don't give us that rubbish. You think there's something weird about him."

"Not that anyone listens to me," Snape said petulantly.

"Well, maybe if you tell us," Mulciber said. "Other people might be willing to listen."

Snape gave the other two boys a suspicious look. Ha, even a snake didn't trust those two. That proved they were no good. No good at all. And them asking about Remus was definitely not a good thing.

Sirius couldn't just stand here and do nothing - or trust that Snape wouldn't say something (if he even knew something but that was a risk Sirius was not willing to take). So, he didn't.

He needed them to stop talking about this.

So, he didn't just stand around. Without even thinking anything through, he walked, bold as brass, around the corner and right at them.

"Yeah, Snape, do you know something?" Sirius asked in a warning tone that he tried to make sound mocking so as not to raise any suspicions. "I didn't think you knew anything about anything."

He knew damn well that Snape thought he knew something. Though what that was, Sirius didn't know. But it wasn't worth it to risk Remus' secret. And, yes, he knew what he said was kind of mean but he had to throw Mulciber and Avery off.

Snape looked between them both, an unreadable look on his face. Sirius held his breath as Mulciber and Avery tried to look intimidating (Mulciber just looked constipated). They all stood in silence for far too long - it was making Sirius nervous.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said finally, nose up in the air.

Sirius let out the breath he had been holding as Mulciber and Avery glared at him.

"Whatever," Avery spat in an effort to hide his very apparent disappointment. "You were probably jut wasting our time like you always do. You'll never fit in, you know that, don't you, Snape?"

Snape didn't bother giving them a reply, even though it rankled him and it wasn't even directed at him and he never had cared much for Snape. Avery and Mulciber were just that awful. Imagine saying something like that?

Still, all to him, Snape still didn't give them the pleasure of retorting. He just stood and stared at them.

Giving up on him, Avery spun around to face Sirius.

"And you're just pathetic, Black. Pathetic and a disgrace and so are your little ragtag buddies."

Sirius knew he should probably be upset or at least annoyed at this but honestly, Avery looked so ridiculous with his purplish face that he had to smile. Which, of course, didn't help matters.

Thankfully, they didn't say anything further and the two Slytherin boys whirled away in a huff, stomping feet and all. Sirius watched them leave, feeling triumphant. He looked over to Snape, feeling like he had to share in this only to find that Snape was no longer there. In fact, the Slytherin was quite briskly walking in the opposite direction.

"Hey, hey, Snape," Sirius called, running to catch up with the other boy.

Wow, he was fast.

"What do you want, Black?"

He was still walking.

"Hey, stop."

Sirius pulled on the sleeve of his robe to try and do that himself. Snape did not appreciate that, if the glare he was given was anything to go by, but he did stop.

"What?"

"I just..." oh, this was an awful lot easier tondo in his head. ".. I-"

"Spit it out."

"I'm trying! Give me a chance!"

Was Snape always this impatient? It wasn't like Sirius knew; he barely knew the guy.

"Well, I don't have all day!"

"I just wanted to say thanks, okay!" Sirius burst out, getting annoyed with him.

Couldn't he see he was trying to be nice? Apparently not as Snape just stared at him.

"What?" the Slytherin managed to get out.

Sirius struggled to get his impatience under control.

"I wanted to say thank you, for that," he repeated in a much gentler tone.

A look of understanding crossed Snape's face before a careful mask of indifference closed him off again.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said briskly, turning to leave again.

Sirius opened his mouth to contradict that and then realised what Snape was doing. He let him go without saying anything further, watching him disappear.

Huh. Who would have thought it?

Friday 7th January 1977

Gryffindor Common Room, 16:00

Alice couldn't help but feel hurt as Frank brushed her off yet again. And they hadn't even been back a week yet!

"I promised I'd sort some things out," he said vaguely as he swung his bag over his shoulder and walked off.

This left Alice to stare after him in confusion and the aforementioned, more than a little hurt. Absentmindedly, she returned to the spot by the fire she had jumped up from to greet him. She had been studying with Mary - who had been making even better strides on her studies this year.

Originally, Mary hadn't been going to return to Hogwarts but since Alice was staying on, Mary had persuaded her parents to let her as well.

"What am I going to do all day if you're not around?" Mary had stated when Alice had questioned her on it.

The MacDonald's were conservative but not that conservative. The general assumption for them was that the daughters weren't going to study past their OWLs but they didn't mind if they wanted to stay on. So here Mary was.

Which was good because Alice needed a friend right about now. With a sigh, she sat back down and picked up her homework but not really seeing it - her thoughts most definitely elsewhere.

"Frank still acting strange?" Mary asked, lifting her Charms essay up to frown at it.

Alice frowned at the use of the word strange. Frank wasn't strange, he just wasn't acting like himself and she told Mary so.

"Sounds strange to me," she said, nodding at her homework and rolling it up with a satisfied look on her face.

Maybe it was but that didn't help her any. She thought things had gone so well over Christmas. They had had such (supervised) fun together. She had thought that finally Frank was himself again. But that didn't seem to be the case at all. He had just slipped back into his old ways. It was worrying. She didn't know what to do.

"Do you think it's something I said or did?" Alice asked worriedly.

She had wracked her brains but hadn't come up with anything. But maybe she had and she just couldn't see it.

Mary gave her a look. "Really, Alice? You're, like, the picture-perfect lady. There's no way his weird mood his because of something you did."

The confidence in Mary's voice comforted her a bit.

"So, what am I supposed to do?"

Surely, she should be doing something? This wasn't Frank at all.

"Snape him out of it?"

"How?"

"I don't know."

Alice lay back against the sofa with a groan.

"I thought friends were supposed to be useful."

Sunday 9th January 1977

Sixth Year Slytherin Boys Dorm, 06:30

Severus blinked his eyes open in confusion, wondering what had woken him up. Morgan let out a loud snore and turned over in his bed. Ah. That was it. Morgan had a cold - he didn't usually snore like that.

Rubbing at his eyes, Severus cast Tempus. Half six. He bit back a groan. It was far too early, even for him. It was the weekend, after all.

With that in mind, Severus buried himself further under his covers and resolutely shut his eyes. He could get a few more hours, if he tried. Just as he felt himself drift off again, his eyes shot open - a thought suddenly hitting him.

It was the nineth. The nineth of January. He sat up and shook his head, wanting to wake up now. It was his birthday. He was seventeen today. An adult! He could cast magic outside of school now, not that it mattered at the moment because he was still in school but still! He'd be able to do that this summer.

Oh wow. Now he was excited even though he knew nothing special would be happening today. His mum would be sending him a card and maybe a present (she wasn't always consistent with that) and maybe Lily would do the same. It didn't matter. None of that mattered because he was seventeen.

Friday 14th January 1977

Gryffindor Table, Great Hall, 07:30

'PEACE OF A NEW YEAR BROKEN'

Frank sighed as he read the headline of the Daily Prophet. It had been nice to have normal headlines for the last few weeks but it looked like that had taken a turn for the worse. Or maybe these horrible headlines were the new normal and the break had been out of the ordinary. They had been getting headlines like this for years now, with such headlines slowly getting closer and closer together.

Was it going to get so bad that this was going to be their normal? Was normal going to be terrorist attacks, people living in fear and people dying every day? Frank didn't want that to be a new normal. He didn't want any of it.

What was he even doing, getting into a spiral with these articles? It wasn't like he could do anything; he was in school. Despairing over the outside world was not a good use of his time this year. Yet, here he was. Doing just that.

"Oh no, Frank has a long face again."

Another sigh escaped him.

"Elsie, do you ever stay at the Hufflepuff Table?"

He really didn't think she did. She was always coming over to chat at nearly every meal, whether it was with him or one of the McRae's. This time she hadn't even finished her breakfast. She was actually holding a piece of toast liberally spread with jam.

"It's more fun over here."

"That's because you Hufflepuffs are a load of duffers," Jasper told her, getting approving laughter from their surrounding friends.

"You take that back!" Elsie demanded with a stomp of her foot.

"I can't help it if it's the truth."

"Can you two just not do this today?" Frank requesting, rubbing at his forehead.

Classes hadn't even started yet and he already had a headache.

"Can you not be a grouch today?" Julian retorted.

"I am not being a grouch."

"You really are," Jasper added and then turned to Elsie, isn't he Elsie?"

She shrugged and Frank gave her a betrayed look.

"You are pretty grumpy this morning."

"I'm not grumpy, I'm annoyed." Frank corrected.

"The day has barely started!" Jasper exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "What is there to be annoyed about?"

"You."

Sunday 16th January 1977

Ravenclaw Common Room, 17:00

"Why are there so many forms?" Kingsley complained, setting his quill down to shake his hand. "I have to have signed at least a dozen already."

"And there's at least a dozen more," Callum observed, eyeing up his own equally tall stack of parchment.

Kingsley groaned and flung his head back. He almost wished it was a hard wall instead of the soft sofa. If he knocked himself out, he wouldn't have to deal with anymore parchment work. Just because he had signed a dozen sheets didn't mean that there was just a dozen. Oh no. For every sheet you put your signature too there had to be at least five others that you had to read through. Carefully. Flitwick had certainly stressed that when he made them sit through that class he had about contracts and apprenticeships and new jobs and the like. He didn't want to accidentally sell his souk or anything.

There was just so much to fill in. Seriously, it was a lot. First you had to fill out all your personal details - name, date of birth, blood status, ethnicity, nationality and the like. He had felt a little embarrassed about having to send off an owl back home to check which ethnicity they were considered to be; African or Caribbean. He never was too sure on that front even though he was sure his parents had told him multiple times. He had got four whole pages in return, ranting about their cultural background and the importance of it. All he needed was one word! But at least he knew he was from a Caribbean background. Look, he wanted to be sure. There was a warning on the parchment work that came with all these forms that the Department of Magical Law Enforcement would be going through their backgrounds thoroughly. He didn't want to be denied entry to the Auror Academy just because of a silly mistake!

Then of course there was your qualifications, your OWL results, predicted results for your NEWTS and any other awards you might have received throughout your time at Hogwarts.

"Kind of wish I got involved in the Junior Duelling Circuit's year," Callum said ruefully. "That would be a cool thing to put down."

"There's a Junior Duelling Circuit?"

This was the first Kingsley was hearing of it. Callum gave him an incredulous look.

"Yes, Professor Flitwick is always going on about it. It's for fifteen- to nineteen-year-olds."

"Huh."

"You really are unobservant sometimes, you know that?"

"Whatever, can you explain to me why the Auror Academy needs on whole scroll on why you want to become an Auror?"

That was just ridiculous. Didn't they know they had NEWTs going on?

"We still need to get check-ups by Madam Pomfrey and attach those as well," Callum reminded him.

Kingsley just groaned and buried his face in his hands. Why did he want to become an Auror again?

Thursday 20th January 1977

Great Hall, 07:30

Lily hadn't even taken three steps into the Great Hall when she came to a rather abrupt stop, almost causing a pile up behind her. It wasn't like it was her fault- she just couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Rubbing her eyes and telling herself to wake up, Lily took the scene in front of her in again. Yep. It was still the same. Wow. Just wow.

Then she felt a giggle bubble up in her and she clamped her teeth onto her lower lip. It was mean to laugh, it was mean to laugh, she chanted in her head but it was fruitless. She had to do it.

Lily laughed and laughed, tears coming to her eyes.

And she wasn't the only one. Everyone who walked in also laughed. It was just too funny. Ridiculous even.

Each and every person in the room was sporting a new hairdo. But not a normal one - of course not - but a wild one. A wild and big one. Someone had these plaits that stuck straight out from above their ears and extended out to three people on each side. Another had towering curls that was sculpted into a vague... Swan shape? Some sort of bird anyway. And yet another had a literal tower of hair, Lily wasn't even sure how the girl was moving her head with that much hair.

A tall Ravenclaw walked past her and into the hall. As soon as he crossed the threshold, suddenly his closely cropped hair was no more. Lily had honestly been expecting him to get an afro or something but no, he got hair styled into antlers. She tried to wait until he was out of earshot before she giggled again.

Another person walked past with the same result- only with a different hairstyle again. So that was how the spell worked.

Now the question was, how much did she want her breakfast? Deciding to be a good sort, Lily walked right into the Great Hall and immediately knew that something had happened on top of her head. Surprisingly, not because of the weight- there must be a featherlight charm involved but because her hair no longer fell down her back - there was a breeze on her neck.

"What's mine like?" she greeted Marlene with who was sporting hair that looked like she had stuck her hand into an electric socket.

"It's all twisted up in a tower about the size of a firstie," Marlene replied, giving her a critical look.

"Cool." Because it was. Especially since she couldn't feel it. "Marauders work?"

Marlene rolled her eyes fondly. "Who else?"

"Speak of the devil," she said lowly as Potter slipped up the table next to Marlene.

He looked pretty pleased with himself, as usual. No surprise there. As did the other Marauders. Again, no surprise. It was another example of complicated spell work, even Lily could admire that.

"What do you think, Evans?" he asked her eagerly.

"It's funny," she answered honestly (he had seen her laugh, after all, feeling her own hair gingerly. "Though, I see your own hair was left untouched."

"We all agreed that James' hair was crazy enough as it was," Remus interjected.

Lily tilted her head to one side and gave Potter a critical look. "I suppose you have a point."

"Hey!"

Sunday 23rd January 1977

Quidditch Pitch, 17:00

"Come on, let's do that again," James ordered, swopping down to talk to them.

Everyone groaned.

"Come on!"

"I'm tired!"

"I'm cold!"

"I'm wet!"

"I'm hungry!"

"I'm all of the above."

They all turned to look at Marlene who shrugged.

"What? All the answers were taken."

"We still haven't got an answer to why we had to even come and do this bloody practice," McRae grumbled, tucking his hands under his elbow in an effort to take them out - he had forgotten his gloves which was the worst thing you could do on a day like today.

"I did answer you," James told him.

"That wasn't an acceptable answer, Potter!"

Sirius couldn't help but frown at the tone, even if he did agree with McRae.

James had decided that it would be a fantastic idea to call a very last minute Quidditch practice. Because of the weather, of all things. It was sleeting, you see (the source of most of the complaints) and James got it into his head that they had to be prepared for all possible conditions, hence the eagerness to drag all their sorry butts out onto the pitch. Something they were all desperately regretting going along with now. When would that ever be a good idea?

"Don't you want to be the champions?" James demanded.

They all grumbled something that sounded like an agreement.

Of course, they did, who didn't want to win? But being cold and damp sort of put, well, a dampener on any enthusiasm they usually had.

"Then, one more time."

This time there wasn't even any pretence of cheering, just a lot of loud complaining. James frowned at them.

Great. Now he was going to have to be the guy no one liked.

"James, c'mon, we're all hungry," Sirius told him.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"I might fall off my broom in a faint," Marlene said quite seriously.

James frowned deeper but then he looked at his watch and his eyes all but bugged out of his head.

"It's dinner time!" He yelped.

"Exactly!" Meadowes said in exasperation. "I'm starving!"

"Well, you can't be champions if you aren't eating! Go! Shoo! Eat!"

Everyone looked more than a bit bewildered as James herded them off the Pitch but Sirius had to chuckle and shake his head. The only thing that could override James Potter's Quidditch obsession was his need to look after everyone.

"Sirius! Chop, chop!"

Thursday 27th January 1977

Gryffindor Common Room, 21:00

"You haven't been bothering Evans this year." Remus said suddenly.

It was a rather weird thing to bring up considering the girl in question was nowhere in sight, therefore James wasn't staring wistfully at her.

"So?"

"Yeah," Sirius broke in. "Normally you're going all goo-goo eyed over her and pestering her."

"Goo-goo eyed? Really, Padfoot?"

Sirius brushed Remus' exasperated question aside to, unfortunately, focus on James.

"What gives, Prongs? Finally giving up on her?"

"No!" was his instinctive reply.

Of course, he wasn't "giving up" on Evans. He wasn't! He was just... realising that the way he had been going about it definitely didn't put him in a good light. Actually, it made him look very, very annoying. Which, in hindsight, was never going to work. Girls didn't like annoying. Merlin, No one liked people being annoying.

"Well, I haven't seen you do anything stupid recently."

Hey, nothing he had done was stupid. Childish and annoying, sure, but not stupid. Because he wasn't stupid. So, nothing he did was stupid. Did that make sense?

"I think James here has finally grown up," Remus teased.

"You take that back," he insisted, covering up his brief flash of annoyance with humour. He even added a mocking fist shake.

So, what if he didn't ask after every Quidditch success or before every Hogsmeade weekend. It wasn't that big of a deal, was it? According to his friends it was. But they thought everything a big deal (completely ignoring the fact that he was normally the one to male things a big deal - he was just enthusiastic, okay?).

"Yeah, me and James are never going to grow up," Sirius bragged.

"Merlin help us all," Remus muttered, shaking his head.

"So, yeah, what is your deal with Evans then?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing! I don't have a deal with Evans!"

"Are you playing hard to get?" Peter asked.

James scoffed at him. "That's what girls do."

"So, that's a yes?" Remus teased, which earned him a shove. "Seriously, what are you doing?"

"I... well, I... I don't know," James finally gave in with a sigh.

"You don't know?" Sirius asked in amazement.

He shrugged. It was true. He didn't know what he was doing about Evans. Sure, he really, really, really liked her but that alone didn't seem to be getting him anywhere.

But he didn't know how to get anywhere with her. She didn't like his persistence. Or his charm. Or his fooling about. What else could he do? He wanted to do something; he just didn't know what. And he didn't want to fail.

"You must be putting a lot of thought into it," Peter said, hitting the nail on the head.

"Into pining, maybe," Remus replied.

James blushed a bright red and his friends exchanged triumphant looks. Arses.

"I knew you still fancied her!"

"Shut up."

Magic was incredibly useful. Especially when you needed to send three separate pieces of homework flying to opposite corners of the Common Room. It meant your aforementioned arses of friends had to go and scramble after them before they got lost.

Sunday 30th January 1977

Gryffindor Table, Great Hall, 09:00

Lily blinked slowly as she held her cup of tea close to her, trying not to sway as she took sips of it. She wasn't quite awake yet. Marlene, in all her wisdom, had woken her up too early to wish her a happy birthday. Which was appreciated but would have a lot more if it hadn't been seven o'clock in the morning in a Sunday.

Her parents had apparently been in cahoots with her best friend and had sent all of her presents to Marlene without her even realising it. She would have to ask her how she managed that later. When she actually had the brain power for it.

Okay, that made her sound very ungrateful- she did love her presents. Well, most of them. She wasn't too sure about the firewhiskey Marlene had added to her gift (the other being a really lovely pair of boots).

Anyway, she would be able to enjoy her birthday a lot more once she was properly conscious.

"Happy Birthday, Lily!" Chryssie greeted her, coming up behind her with a hug.

"Thanks."

"Have a good day so far?"

"It's the morning, Chryssie."

"Yeah. On your birthday."

Lily shook her head fondly. She really hoped Chryssie would never change.

"It's been good, though Marlene woke me up too early."

"Can't sleep in on your birthday, Evans," her best friend shot back.