Friday 4th February 1977

Gryffindor Table, Great Hall, 08:00

Marlene frowned as Lily left the table quickly, making the excuse that she had "forgotten something for Transfiguration". Which was fair enough but there was only one problem with that, they didn't have Transfiguration first thing today. Or in the morning at all. Lily could have gone and retrieved whatever she had forgotten at lunch- if she even had forgotten anything, which Marlene sincerely doubted.

Though it did look like she had forgotten the letter she had been reading. Looked like one from her family- it was done on paper instead of parchment. Lily (or anybody really) would not want anyone reading her private letters so Marlene grabbed it to stuff in her pocket - she would give it to Lily before first class.

Well, that was the plan anyway. But as Marlene picked it up (eurgh, paper felt so weird) she couldn't help but read one of the middle paragraphs. She really couldn't! She wasn't the type of person to read other people's post!

'You just make everything worse, Lily Evans!' a part of the letter went. 'Oh, why do you have to bring your freakishness home?'

Marlene felt her temper rise. Who would send Lily such things? She was the nicest, kindest person she knew! She didn't deserve such... such vitriol. Who sent this?

Her eyes quickly scanned the letter and saw the name 'Petunia' scrawled across the bottom in spiky handwriting- nothing like Lily's smooth script.

She gave the signature a disgusted look. Of course, it was Petunia. The only Evans that wasn't nice. Not even a little bit. Marlene didn't have to talk to her when she visited Lily's over the holidays to know that. Not that Petunia would talk to her. Oh no. Petunia didn't like magic, as Lily explained. She was just jealous, that much Marlene knew. It was easy to see, even if Lily didn't seem to want to admit it. But then again, Marlene wasn't the one who had to live with Petunia in the holidays. If she was horrible with a guest around, there was no imagining how much worse she was when no one else was there.

Now, did Lily really need this letter back? Marlene chewed on her lower lip. Yes, it was Lily's property but surely it wasn't healthy to keep such a nasty piece of writing? She would just keep reading it and rereading it and feeling bad every time. That wouldn't be good.

No. It wouldn't. With a resolute expression on her face, she folded the letter up so it was almost impossibly smaller and buried it in her robe pocket. Hopefully, it would just be forgotten.

That thought cheered her up a bit. Now, it was time to cheer up Lily.

Sunday 6th February 1977

Gryffindor Common Room, 19:30

James watched as Evans sighed heavily and twisted a strand of her hair around her finger. That meant she was stressed. Not schoolwork stressed, necessarily (that resulted in more angry matters he had observed), but stressed about something else. Maybe. He still wasn't too sure about his ability to read her. She was just so... oh, he didn't know.

"Do you think Evans is acting weird?" James asked lowly, looking across the Common Room.

"I thought you weren't doing this, this year," Remis chided, looking up from his book.

"I'm not doing anything," he retorted defensively. "I'm just asking a question."

A perfectly innocent question. He was allowed to do that, wasn't he? She was a fellow Gryffindor, in the same year. Her was allowed to show concern over her wellbeing. Well, that's what he was telling himself anyway. It didn't look like any of his friends were buying it.

Peter was rolling his eyes, Sirius had one of his stupid smirks on his face and Remus had actually had the gall to return to his book!

"Well?" James asked impatiently.

"Well, what?" Remus asked, turning a page.

"Isn't Evans acting weird?"

"Oh, you were serious about that."

"Yes!"

"How on earth are we supposed to know?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, we aren't the ones who spend hours staring at her," Peter added.

"It's not hours..."

Sirius pounced on his admission. "So, you admit that you stare at her."

James decided that it was more prudent to remain silent.

"You would think that Evans would notice," Peter wondered out loud.

"She's just so used to ignoring him by now," Sirius replied.

Ignoring them both, James pointedly turned to Remus.

"Come on, Moony," he said as persuasively as he could. "You hang out with her the most. Surely you've noticed something?"

Remus sighed and put his book down, frowning as he thought.

"She's been a bit quieter," he admitted. "And distracted."

"See!"

Remus shook his head. "That doesn't mean anything, Prongs. She could just not have been feeling great, or she's working too hard or any number of things."

"But you admit she's acting weird."

That got him a sigh. "I suppose..."

"See!"

"What does it matter?" Peter pointed out sensibly. It's not like you can do anything."

James opened and closed his mouth, not knowing how to defend himself from that. Because, well, Peter was right, wasn't he? He couldn't do anything about it. He wasn't one of Evans' friends - she definitely wasn't going to come to him for any sort of help.

But he felt like he should be doing something. Even if all it did was make her smile... make her smile! That was it!

"Hey, guys, what pranks of ours did Evans like?"

Fourth Floor Corridor, 20:00

Chryssie tried to push past the boys but they just smirked at her a firmly blocked her path.

"Oh, why can't you leave me alone?" she asked in frustration, tears coming unbidden to her eyes.

It was all so awful and annoying. What had she ever done to them? She didn't even know them, all three were older than her. Maybe even older than Lily.

"Because people like you won't leave us alone," the big-nosed one told her.

His response confused her. What did he mean by that?

"I've never bothered you. I don't even know you."

"Yet here you are."

They were encircling her now and she didn't like it. Her fingers wrapped around her wand but she didn't take it out. What good would she be against three much bigger boys? She wouldn't be, that's what. But she felt like she had to do something and having her wand to hand (literally) did make her feel a bit better. More prepared. Sort of.

"Just what exactly is going on here?"

Chryssie heaved a sigh of relief. She had never been so glad to hear her sister's protective tone in her life.

Thankfully, the boys took a step away from her and took their attention off her.

"Nothing, Prefect Evans," the tall, skinny one said formally.

Lily's eyes narrowed. "Well, that isn't what it looks like."

"But that's what it is."

She didn't look like she believed him even a little bit.

"Whatever it is, it's not happening anymore. Move on, please."

"We don't have to listen to you, Evans!" the skinnier one couldn't help but shout across the corridor.

Lily strode quite confidently over to them.

"Oh, I think you'll find that you do, Royce," she said coolly. "As I am a Prefect."

"I would never recognise a mudblood like you as an authority over me," he sneered.

"Well, unfortunately for you, the school does. And I think I'm going to use that authority to refer you all to Professor Slughorn for a detention."

"Oh, you are, are you?" the big-nosed one stepped forward threateningly, flexing his muscles. They were very big.

But Lily stayed calm and didn't show any fear whatsoever!

"Yes. And you know how Slughorn feels about bigots."

That was the first thing that made the boys stop and think. They even gave each other unsure looks.

"You wouldn't dare," Royce began, only for Lily to interrupt him.

"Want to try me?"

Chryssie looked at her sister in awe. How was Lily so brave? So, daring? Royce towered over her and had that ugly expression on his face. The expression that implied that he had no qualms about inflicting harm on people. Chryssie had to be honest with herself, that expression scared her.

It didn't seem to scare her big sister. Lily drew herself up to her full height, which really wasn't much - she didn't even hit five six - and gave the boys a deadly looking glare. Two of them actually stepped away from her.

Maybe this was why she was a Ravenclaw and Lily a Gryffindor, Chryssie thought idly. There was no way she could stand up to those boys.

Lily and Royce had a stare off that lasted far too long in Chryssie's opinion. Finally, Royce huffed and stepped backwards.

"Whatever," he spat. "You'll all get what's coming to you."

With that, he span on his heel, barking at his two friends to come with him. Which they did, scrambling to catch up.

Lily watched them leave, eyes never leaving them until Chryssie couldn't even hear their footsteps anymore. It was only then that Lily came over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Chryssie turned into her chest and held on tight.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked hoarsely.

"Yes."

It was a lie and they both knew it. Chryssie was trembling so much that she was making Lily tremble too. It was only now that her body reaches to what had just happened to her and she stifled a sob.

"Oh, Chryssie," Lily murdered and started to gently guide her down the corridor.

Chryssie didn't know how far they walked but the next thing she knew she was being pushed into a chair in the Charms Classroom.

"Flitwick won't mind," she said to Chryssie's confused look.

"Ok."

That's all she could get out before she started sniffing again. Oh, this was awful. And embarrassing. Awfully embarrassing. Why was she crying so much? Chryssie rubbed at her eyes. She didn't normally cry like this.

Lily thankfully didn't say anything but she stayed close, which Chryssie really appreciated. It made her feel like she was sort of in control. And she wasn't, not for a good few minutes while Lily patiently let her cry out all her feelings.

"How come those words didn't bother you?" she sniffed out, wiping at her eyes.

Chryssie wished she could be that stoic in front of people but she couldn't. Lily on the other hand...

Lily shrugged. "They're just words."

"Yeah, words that hurt."

Horrible words. Nasty words. Awful words. And they made you feel all those things as well.

"When you hear them so much, they kind of lose their sting," Lily said, not looking at her. "They're easier to ignore."

"That... that's awful."

Another shrug. "That's how it is."

"But why?"

Why did people hate Muggleborns so much? Why did they think that they didn't belong? What was so special about them? How was any of this fair?

Lily's face faltered for a moment and she looked just as hurt and upset as Chryssie felt.

"I... I don't know."

Wednesday 9th February 1977

Sixth Year Gryffindor Girls Dorm, 23:30

Lily sighed and rubbed at her eyes. It was no use; she was never going to be able to go to sleep. Too many thoughts buzzing around her head. Too many regrets. And tossing and turning wasn't going to do anything except make her feel uncomfortable. And maybe even wake someone else up, which she didn't want. But what could she do? It wasn't like she could take a walk to clear her head, it was the middle of the night and she was a Prefect, she couldn't break the rules like that. Even if it was tempting. A good walk would be could, she would be able to pace to her heart's content.

Walking sounded really good, actually. She felt like she had to move, had to do something. Anything except stay here with her thoughts.

What she could do, however, was give herself a change of scenery. It wasn't out of bounds to go down to the Common Room in the middle of the night. Yeah, that's what she would do.

Slipping her feet into her slippers, Lily tied her dressing gown around her waist. The fire wouldn't be going now, it was bound to be cold.

And it was. She hadn't realised how cosy her dorm was u till she went down to the stairs. They were freezing - the fire really added a lot of warmth. Said fire was out now, just a few glowing embers in the fireplace.

She almost fell down the stairs in shock when she glanced over to it. There was a shadowy figure there! All dark and hunched over and-

"You okay there?"

The figure sounded sharp and stood up, a sim lamp lighting his face. Oh. It was only Black.

"Evans?"

"Black?"

"Yep, it's me," Sirius replied, settling back down on the sofa.

"Oh."

Which was a pretty stupid thing to reply but Lily didn't know what else to say. What did you say to someone at nearly midnight?

"I'll, I'll just go back up to bed," she fumbled, turning to go back up the stairs.

"There's more than enough Common Room for both of us, Evans."

He didn't say it in a mean voice, just a tired one so, hesitantly, she stayed. She didn't want to sit too far from Black and make it look like she was trying to avoid him but it didn't seem too polite to sit close to him either.

"No point in freezing yourself either, he added, seeing her dilemma and pointing to the opposite side of the sofa.

There really wasn't, so she sat down where he indicated. It was a bit warmer here.

They sat in silence like that for a while. Surprisingly, it didn't feel awkward at all for Lily. It was just quiet, the only noise being the sound of their breathing and the noise Black's chess pieces were making against the board. Lily was ashamed to say that it took her an embarrassingly long time to realise what he was doing.

"Are you playing against yourself?" she asked in amazement.

He gave her an amused look. "Yes, well, I'm not playing against a ghost, am I?"

She blushed at that. It was a stupid question. But she could barely play a normal game, never mind against herself. How did you even play against yourself? Surely you knew all the moves you were going to make so it would just end in a stalemate?

Black moved his Bishop and spun the board around to now glare at said Bishop. It was weird.

"Can you play?" He asked suddenly without looking up

"Yes..." she said not very confidently.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Not very well," she admitted.

She couldn't strategize to save her life. Or any of her pawns. And then she got frustrated. And then wanted to give up. It wasn't pretty watching her play chess.

"Well, I'll go easy on you then," he offered, moving the board so it was between the two of them and starting to move all of his pieces.

"You want to play against me?"

"Sure," he shrugged. "I don't have anything better to do and I doubt you do either. Unless you want to waste the night staring into the fire and trust me, that doesn't make the time pass any faster."

Somehow Lily felt like he had a lot of experience with that. But that wasn't something to bring up. Instead, she reached for the board, hand hovering over it.

"What colour do you want to be?" She asked.

"And Black as my name," he said with a straight face.

"Making me white," she said more to herself.

"This way you get a teeny, tiny advantage."

She gave him a small smile and poked a white pawn two spaces forwards.

"Your turn."

Like he said, it would be distracting, even if losing quickly was not her idea of fun.

And it wasn't. Her idea of fun that is. She was about to lose yet again. Though, Black was right. The time did past quicker. Lily hadn't felt time pass at all. She wasn't even aware of what time it was anymore.

"Your move, Evans."

She gave him a glare. That wasn't helping! She knew it was her turn. She just didn't know what to do next. Did she sacrifice her rook? Or move her Bishop?

"Shush. I'm trying to think."

There wasn't even any glow emitting from the embers in the fire anymore. They had both had to cast bluebell flames and put them in jars just to be able to see. It was weird, they gave everything a blue glow.

"You are the actual worst at this game, Evans," Black observed.

"I know but I would so beat you at Cluedo. Or Ludo. Or, or, or even Pontoon."

She always won at Cluedo, by the way... It was better than chess too. Any of those games she mentioned were better than chess.

"Muggle games?"

Surprisingly, he didn't sound derisive about it. Just casually interested.

"Yeah, I'm amazing at them all."

Well, maybe just one of them but Black didn't have to know that. That got Black to snort far too loudly.

"I'll believe it when I see it."

And, of course, he just had to go and capture her last rook.

"Checkmate."

Dammit. That was the sixth time tonight.

"Another game?" Lily suggested, there was no way he could win a seventh time.

"Seven is the magic number," he agreed.

They were putting all the pieces in their rightful spots when a sleepy sounding "Padfoot?" made them jump out of their skins.

"Oh, hi, Prongs," Black greeted, looking up from the board.

"What are you doing? It's something like three in the morning and you haven't come to bed."

"Playing chess against Evans here. I'm winning."

"Evans is here?" Potter asked in amazement. Lily gave him a wave. "What are you doing down here?"

"Playing chess against Black," she replied with a straight face.

"You both should be in bed."

"Not yet, this is our seventh game. The best number," Black told him.

James shook his head. "Seven? No. Come on, let's get you both to bed. It's late."

Neither of them did as he requested. Not when there was a game to be played. Lily poked her pawn out two places.

"Padfoot."

Sirius didn't even bother looking up as he replied, "James, James, James, sit down and be quiet. The night is only getting started. We're going to start Cluedo in a bit."

"Well, maybe some other day," Lily corrected him. "I don't have it at Hogwarts."

"When you get it from home then," he amended.

"Definitely."

Then she would be the one showing him up.

"It's four in the morning!" He exclaimed in a loud whisper. "We have classes tomorrow!"

Lily snorted. Yes, because Potter was the epitome of respecting the rules, wasn't he?

"Didn't you just say it was three?" Sirius asked.

"So? Live a little, Potter," she taunted. "I'm going to beat him this time if you hang around and want to witness history."

Potter gave her a sceptical look. "I haven't beaten him once in six years."

"That's because you're rubbish at chess," Black scoffed.

"Anyway, I'm far superior at this," Lily said with an air of overconfidence (sleep deprivation would do that to you). "Sit down and share in my eventual victory."

Strangely enough, he did just that. Not before signing a rolling his eyes at them however. But he joined them, tucking his knees up under his chin and watched them. Lily and Black played, or rather - Black decimated her completely but it was enough to make her forget. Forget about nasty sisters and war and taunts of dirty blood. The only things that mattered right now were these two sleepy boys and this chess game. The world would still be there waiting for them in the morning.

Saturday 11th February 1977

Gryffindor Common Room, 15:30

It had been a weird, slow but fast sort of day. The kind of day where nothing happened and it felt like time was dragging on but then suddenly most of the day was gone. Definitely weird.

James leaned back in his chair in the Common Room and frowned at what he saw.

He definitely wasn't seeing things. Evans was far more tired looking than she ever had been. And it looked like she wasn't participating much in her friends' conversation at all. She was kind of on the edge of it, not making any effort to get involved. Sure enough, McKinnon and Meadowes and all stood up and left and she didn't follow, waving a quill absentmindedly at them. As if she hadn't just been staring at a blank bit of parchment for the past twenty minutes.

Yes, he had been staring at her for that long but it wasn't like he had anything to do either. Could he do something to cheer her up? Make her smile or forget whatever was bothering her? Apparently, she had had a run in with Royce recently, he really was a piece of work. But not for Evans if the rumours were true.

So, what could he do? James thought and thought and then did something that he hadn't planned on doing at all.

"Hey, Evans?" he found himself asking.

She looked up at him with a suspicious look - not that he blamed her. She probably thought that he was about to annoy her again or something- not knowing that he had actually promised himself this year that he wasn't going to do it. And he was still going to keep that promise. This was a little different.

"Doing anything for Valentine's Day?" he asked. "Or, more specifically, the Hogsmeade weekend?"

"Are you asking me on another date?" she asked tiredly.

"No," he replied quickly, not wanting her to get her guard up. "Well, yes. But not really."

"Potter, you're making no sense whatsoever."

James anxiously ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure out what he was going to say. He thought he had had it all planned out but the words weren't coming out. Why did she make him feel so nervous? He never got nervous like this - it was weird.

"Do you want to hang out with us that weekend?" He tried again. "None of us have dates or anything so we're just all hanging out and pigging out on chocolate.

A look of shock flitted across her face before it settled on suspicion.

"This isn't going to be a trick to get me to come and then your friends don't turn up and we actually have a date after all, is it? Because I will make you regret it if it is."

How did she even come up with that stuff? Though, James wished he had come up with it a year or so ago when actually would have followed through with something like that.

"Nope," he shook his head. "No tricks, I promise. Just hanging out and Remus is going to try to eat as much chocolate as he possibly can."

That got a smile from her. "How is that different from normal?"

James grinned back at her. "It's not. But he has an excuse on St Valentine's Day."

"I thought that was the girl's job."

"You can tell him that when you have lunch with us."

She gave him a long look before slowly nodding her head.

"Okay. I think I will."

Monday 14th February 1977

Gryffindor Common Room, 16:00

"Oh, just leave me alone, Frank Longbottom!" Alice shouted before standing up and stomping off.

Frank couldn't do anything except stare after her in complete shock. What had just happened? All he had been doing was talking about schoolwork... that she had asked him about! And then she just... got angry? Upset? Frank didn't know, he was confused. Alice never acted like that. Never. She was the very description of decorum. All this shouting was not her. There had to be something wrong.

Not that he could ask her that now as she had completely disappeared. Where had she gone? Had she left the Common Room? Gone up to her dorm?

"What happened there?" Jasper asked as Frank made his way back to his friends.

"I don't know," Frank admitted.

This was not how he had planned on Valentine's Day going. Not at all. And it had been going so well too, until whatever that was happened. He really didn't know what had gone wrong. What had made Alice so annoyed at him.

"Chicks," Jasper scoffed, earning himself a jab in the gut from his sister. "Ow."

"Ignore him, he got turned down by Bones," Josie told him.

"Again?" Frank asked.

That had to be the fifth time. She wasn't going to go out with him. Unfortunately, Jasper didn't seem to think of it that way.

Jasper huffed and crossed her arms as his other two triplets laughed at him.

"She could have at least been nicer this time."

"You tried to blackmail her into it," Julian scolded him. "I don't blame her for shoving you into the suit of armour. What did you think was going to happen?"

"Not that, obviously!"

Saturday 19th February 1977

Gryffindor Common Room, 10:00

Lily looked at the stairs to the boys' dorms for what must have been the fifth time. Where were they? Where they still at breakfast? Lily was sure that she had seen them leave...

"The boys down yet?" Marlene asked, scaring her as she approached from behind.

"No, not yet."

"We're never going to get to Hogsmeade if they don't hurry it up."

"You're coming too?" Lily asked in surprise.

"Yeah, Sirius and James invited me."

"I thought you and Black would be going off somewhere."

He and Marlene were dating the last time she checked. Sort of. Lily still couldn't wrap her head around their easy-going relationship.

"Eh," Marlene scrunched up her nose. "Me and Sirius weren't feeling it this weekend. So just hanging out with him sounded fun."

Well, at least she wouldn't be the only girl there - unless Pettigrew or Remus had invited someone. Something she doubted.

"Prongs, I have to look good; you know that," Black complained as Potter dragged him down the stairs.

"Hi, Evans, McKinnon. Sorry for the wait," he apologised. "Padfoot here decided he liked the look of himself too much."

"Even the mirror was getting tired of him," Pettigrew quipped.

Black didn't look insulted by this at all.

"It's not my problem if you lot don't mind going out looking like untidy louts."

"Evans looks nice and she was here before us," Potter told him.

Lily found herself blushing at that comment for some reason but she brushed it off in favour of a bit of banter.

"Now, come on, Potter. We all know that Black takes so much time because he doesn't know what works for him."

Potter's eyes widened and a grin stretched across his face as he realised what she was doing. Black, on the other hand, looked outraged.

"I do so know what works for me!" he said indignantly. "Perfection just takes time."

"Yet you still can't achieve it."

Laughing, the six of them made their way out of the Common Room, the boys letting her and Marlene go first. It looked like it was shaping up to be a good day.

Tuesday 22nd February 1977

Sixth Year Gryffindor Boys Dorm, 18:00

Remus raised an eyebrow as James dragged Sirius into the dorm. A very reluctant Sirius at that.

"James, I'm fine!"

"If you aren't going to go to Madam Pomfrey you can at least let me have a look at it," James retorted and then he spied Remus so he corrected himself, "Us. You have to let is have a look at it."

That got alarm bells ringing in Remus' head as he set his book down.

"What happened?"

"Nothing!"

James sent Sirius a look that made him quieten down - albeit with a pout on his face. James turned to Remus.

"He got a bludger right to the chest in practice and failed to tell anyone until we all touched down and he nearly fell flat on his face."

"It's just bruised!"

"Let me see!" James repeated.

"Your ribs could be broken," Remus added, standing up.

Sirius pouted at both of them and folded his arms and yelped as even the touch of his arms caused his ribs pain.

"They're not. I know what broken ribs feel like."

Remus and James exchanged concerned looks.

"Well, so do I," Remus replied. "And you should know that they can feel different every time."

Because they really could. It depended on what rib you broke. Sirius had no answer for that except for another huff.

"Let's see them," Peter said, making as if to pull up the hem of Sirius' shirt.

"I can do that," he complained, yanking it up himself and wincing as he did so.

Remus couldn't help but blush and look away as Sirius' chest came into view. Being a Beater had done wonders for his body- giving him a firm layer of muscle everywhere and a set of broad shoulders. It, well, it looked good on him.

Wait. What? Did he just think that? He looked over to him again and felt the heat rise in his face yet again. Yep. Still thought he looked good. But Sirius was... a guy? But did that matter? Oh, he didn't know. It didn't matter now because Sirius had put his shirt back down.

"See? I'm fine."

"You didn't let us see anything," James retorted.

"Because there's nothing to see!"

Peter jumped forwards and gave him a poke in the ribs.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Proof that you need to go to Madam Pomfrey," James said decisively. "Remus?"

"Already on it," Remus replied, grabbing Sirius by the arm.

Sunday 27th February 1977

Fifth Floor Corridor, 16:00

"I can't believe you stole my letter!"

Marlene knew that not returning the letter would come back to bite her in the butt. She just didn't think it would be so soon. Or that Lily would be this annoyed by it.

"I didn't steal it; I just didn't give it back to you."

"That's stealing!"

"I was going to give it back to you!"

In pieces maybe but Lily looked like she really didn't need to know that right now.

"I thought you were my friend, Marlene McKinnon!"

"I am!"

Marlene didn't know what else to say to that. Of course, she was Lily's friend! They were best friends, right?

"A real friend wouldn't do something like that!"

And then she was left alone in the corridor as Lily stomped off.

She really had screwed up.