Saturday 10th September 1977

Gryffindor Table, Great Hall, 10:30

Lily had to bite her lip in an effort not to laugh as Marlene came stomping over to her. Her friends were in their Quidditch gear and already looked exhausted. Wordlessly, Lily pushed a steaming hot cup of coffee towards her and started to prepare a very sweet mug of tea.

"I'm going to kill Potter," Marlene announced, letting her head drop to the table with a 'thud'.

"Pretty sure that's against school rules."

"What are you going to do about it, Head Girl? Give me detention? I'll gladly take it."

"You have an early practice?" Lily asked, ignoring her grumbling.

Marlene would be better once she had some caffeine and food in her system. Low blood sugar did tend to make one grumpy.

Her friend grunted at her and basically threw the coffee down her throat. Marlene shuddered and then went still. Used to this sort of behaviour, Lily continued eating. The eggs were particularly good today.

Sure enough, about ninety seconds later, Marlene shifted from her zombie-like state to something vaguely resembling a human.

"Early morning practices should be illegal," she announced, grabbing the plate of bacon and shovelling multiple slices onto her plate. "There is no reason for us to be out on the pitch at seven o'clock in the morning. On a Saturday."

"Shouldn't you be taking this up with Potter?"

Marlene gave her a sceptical look. "Do you really think he would listen?"

"Is early morning practice really that bad?"

"Yes!"

Lily looked down the table where Potter was with his friends. He didn't look anywhere near as tired as Marlene did. In fact, he looked positively perky.

"He looks just fine."

"That's because James Potter is a freak. I swear he must be awake at the most insane time because he looked like that when he tried to lecture us in the changing room."

That was true. About Potter waking at an early hour, not the freak bit. They may have only been at school for just over a week but every day she had heard Potter moving about in the shared living room they had in the Head Boy and Girl Suite at times that she wouldn't even think of waking up at, never mind getting out of bed.

"Well, just think of it as a way to success," Lily tried to encourage.

The dirty look she got in return made it very clear that it wasn't working.

Monday 12th September 1977

Transfiguration Classroom, 10:30

Tonks tried not to sigh too heavily as she went to her seat. Sure, Transfiguration had always been one of her best subjects but even this was hard this year. If she thought the step up between third year and OWLs was steep, that was nothing compared to the difference between OWLs and NEWTs. The Professors may as well be speaking another language half the time. And the homework! Don't get her started on that - there was no way there were enough hours in the day to get it all done. The only good thing that came out of doing NEWTS was she no longer had to do History of Magic. No more lessons on Goblin Wars. Though, that did mean to naps in the middle of the day anymore.

Tonks pulled out her Transfiguration textbook. She almost dropped it to the floor in shock as her fingers hit something sticky. Yuck, what was that? Why was her textbook sticky?

"Is there a problem, Miss Tonks?" McGonagall asked her sharply.

"No, Professor."

"Then please pay attention."

Screwing up her face, she tugged her textbook put and carefully place it on her desk. Chryssie raised an eyebrow in question at her but Tonks shook her head and held a finger to her lips as McGonagall gave them a sharp look. The time for talking was definitely not in one of McGonagall's lessons.

Head Boy and Girl Suite, 20:00

The portrait door was flung open and Lily was thankful for the spell that automatically allowed it to slow down or that would be quite a bang.

It was Potter, not in a bad mood from the happy look on his face but his arms were full with his broom, Quidditch uniform and scrolls of parchment. Not to mention an easel board. Lily jumped to her feet.

"Need a hand?" she offered.

"Thanks," he said gratefully as she took the board off him and let the scrolls tumble to the floor. "Argh."

"I'll get those too, you put your broom and uniform away."

And away from her nose. It stank. Sweat and dirt and Merlin knows what else was not a good smell for anyone.

"Thanks!" He called over his shoulder, dashing for his room.

He was soon back out to take the scrolls from her.

"What are these? Plays?"

"And strategies."

She had unrolled one of them and was looking at it. Not that that did her much good as the little diagrams didn't make any sense to her.

"And your teammates can make sense of this?"

"Oh, yes. They aren't that hard to understand. See?"

Potter reached over her shoulder and tapped the parchment with his wand. Immediately the coloured lines and shapes had little figures on tiny brooms zoom along them.

"Wow."

"Cool, isn't it?"

"Very," Lily agreed and then looked closer at the small drawings. "Are those little portraits of everyone?"

"Well," Potter looked strangely bashful. "Not portraits. Not really. I just doodled their faces and put them on stick men."

Sure, enough, that little figure with a bat was recognisable as Marlene with her messy bob and she would have recognised Blacks carefully shaggy locks even if there wasn't a Beater's bat in his hand. Of course, there was Potter with his bird's nest of a hairstyle (if you could even call it a style).

"Did you do these yourself?" She couldn't help but sound impressed.

"Yes."

He looked somewhat guarded as he gave his reply, Lily didn't know why - the drawings were really good for something that simple stick figures or even dot would do. His little sketches of the Quidditch hoops and the stands along the margins were brilliant as well. How did he do that sort of shading with a quill?

"That's quite a talent."

"Thanks..."

He was looking a bit happier now.

"Tough practice?"

And that got him frowning again.

"Everyone was just messing around."

Ah. Yes, that would definitely put James 'Quidditch Fanatic' Potter in a bad mood. He took his Quidditch very seriously - even she knew that. Maybe it was a better idea not to talk about it.

"I'm just going to relax by the fire," Lily said, pointing to one of the extremely comfy chairs. "You're welcome to join me, if you want."

Hopefully he wouldn't mope. She couldn't stand people who moped. Actually, he looked happier already. No, wait, that was a look of realisation on his face.

"Um, would it be okay if Sirius and the other Marauders hung out here sometimes?" He asked shyly.

"I wanted to ask the same thing except for Sev and Marlene," Lily admitted.

She had forgotten about it until je said. It was so weird having their own space. A good sort of weird but after six years of basically having to spend your evenings in a Common Room filled with dozens of students - the noise that two people produced just wasn't the same. It was too quiet. Having a few more people in here would make it less weird.

"I'm okay with it if you are?"

"Sounds good. As long as no one is too messy," Lily said.

Sue didn't want to be tidying up after anyone.

Potter grinned at her.

"A bit of a neat freak, Evans?" He teased.

"No. I just don't want the living room to resemble a pig's sty."

She had heard what boys' dorms were like and she didn't want in here to resemble one. Yuck. And definitely not smell like one - she remembered Marlene once telling her that her brothers' room always inexplicably smelled like feet. If they were anything like Marlene's feet then that would have been horrific.

Maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to have anyone in here. It would just spoil things. She rather liked having a room that was just for the two of them. They worked together quite well.

No, that would be wrong. This was the perfect place to just hang out with friends. It would be selfish not to share it with them.

"It should be good, even if we both had our friends in there would be enough room."

James was nodding. "Even if it got a bit much, the Marauders can always go into my room. I think your bedroom acts like the girls' dorms and wouldn't let any boys up."

Lily looked at the five steps that led into her bedroom. As did Potter.

"I kind of want to try," he admitted.

"I want to see you too," Lily agreed.

"Don't tell anyone if I fall flat on my face?"

"I won't."

He didn't look too convinced by that but his curiosity won over. Now, a normal person would go to the first step so that if it did turn to slide, there wouldn't be that far to fall. Not James Potter. Because why would he do something as sensible as that? No, James Potter decided to leap right to the top step.

It turned out that the steps in here were like the Gryffindor Girls Dormitory ones. They immediately turned into a stone slide and, with a rather unmanly yelp, James went crashing back down to the main floor.

It didn't stop there - apparently it included other defensive measures and he was promptly showered with a liquid that unfortunately wasn't water. One sniff was all it took and Lily's sleeve went to her nose. It was vinegar!

"Not. A. Word." James said, slowly standing up and pushing his wet hair out of his face.

Well, the vinegar certainly got rid of the smell of sweat and dirt on him, though it wasn't an improvement. Lily's lips twitched.

"No. No words." He reiterated.

Of course, she couldn't exactly obey. Laughter was pretty hard to hold back, after all.

Thursday 15th September 1977

Entrance Hall, 15:30

Regulus frowned as Sirius and his silly friends walked through the corridor, not paying any attention to their surroundings. They were all laughing at something - probably something inane. It was always something inane and definitely something stupid. Hopefully it didn't involve everyone in the school singing in rhyme or turning into different colours.

"It's like they don't even care about what's important," Avery sneered.

"They don't," Regulus replied, shaking his head.

Sirius never did and it shouldn't surprise any of them that his silly friends didn't either. He just didn't (or refused to) see the bigger picture. But Regulus didn't. He knew what he had to do so he and his family could keep on holding their heads high and he had done it. Something Sirius also never wanted to do. But you know what? It sometime wasn't what you wanted. Sometimes it was for something much bigger and far better in the long run. It just needed some effort and sacrifice.

Which he had done. He couldn't help but smile as he thought about it. Yes, it was definitely the first step to proving to everyone that the Black family stood for the right sorts of things.

His hand itched to touch his arm but Regulus restrained himself. Snakes were slippery, subtle, careful. No one (except for a select few) in this castle would appreciate what he'd done.

"Can I see it again?" Mulciber asked in a hushed whisper as they made their way through the corridors of the Dungeons.

That cheered Regulus up, though he tried no to show it too much.

"Of course. Not here, obviously."

"Obviously."

"The room isn't far." Carrow said.

The room he was talking about was where they and a group of other... like-minded people met up. There weren't a lot of them but there didn't need to. It was the quality of the people that counted. Each of them were pureblood Slytherins, all who held the Dark Lord in great esteem.

And suddenly they were there. Their room. Well, what they had claimed as theirs. Which made it theirs. No one, if they knew what was good for them, would go near it.

"Come on, let me see," Mulciber said impatiently.

"Relax, Mulciber," Regulus chided. "Rushing things will never get anything done properly."

"That's what he prefers," Carrow snickered. "Rush through things half-arsed."

"Don't be so crude, Carrow," Mulciber snapped. "And at least I can do things properly when I'm not rushing unlike some."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, seeing as your thick as two short planks, I suppose I'll have to spell it out for you. Would you prefer it to be with words or my wand?"

"Boys," was all Regulus had to say in a warning tone for them to fall silent.

Pleased that he had got their attention, he shrugged his robes off and draped them neatly over the back of the only chair in the room. They would have to find a way to get more of them in here if this was going to be their meeting room. Which it ought to be - it had a lot of promise.

It was somewhat out of the way - down a side corridor and round a bend that looked like it was a dead end - but easy enough to get to if you knew it was there. A decent size, too. There were five of them currently in it and they weren't all on top of each other or anything. Enough space for a few more chairs and maybe a bigger table.

His hands deftly unbuttoned his cuff and the sleeve was soon rolled neatly upwards. There was no need to make a poor job of this, after all. It deserved to be displayed properly. That and he did so hate the feeling of bunched up sleeve on his upper arms.

There was a gasp as it came into view. The best symbol in the Wizarding World. Regulus still wasn't quite used to seeing the black skull contrasting against the pale of his skin but pride swelled through him every time he looked at it. Which was a lot. Because he had been marked. By the Dark Lord. At sixteen, nonetheless. There was no higher honour. And, to be honest, Regulus did love the snake. It was the best animal, obviously. You couldn't be a Slytherin and not think that.

"It's amazing," Mulciber breathed, his hand hovering over Regulus' arm.

Regulus had to roll his eyes. Mulciber had said the exact same thing every time Regulus had shown him. The older boy really did have a poor vocabulary.

"Can you feel it?"

"I can sense that it's there," Regulus told him.

Well, now that it had healed. When it was fresh and for a good month afterwards it had been raw and painful to the touch. Hot to the touch as well, he had found. Thankfully, the pain had given way to tenderness after a week. And now he didn't feel it at all. It didn't feel like something stuck or burnt into his skin (the latter of which was how it felt when he was receiving it). It was just there. He knew it was there. Regulus wasn't sure how else to explain it.

"Do they all look the same?" Carrow asked.

"Yes. I think. I don't go around staring at people's arms."

And definitely not when he was anywhere near the Dark Lord's presence. That was the easiest way to earn disdain. Which was not something Regulus wanted. He wanted praise and admiration and you didn't get any of that when you acted like a naive little fool.

"I can't wait to get mine," Mulciber told them. "My father said I had to wait until I had left school."

"That's because your father doesn't trust you not to give yourself away to Dumbledore," Avery sneered.

"I said I would be happy to leave school to serve the Dark Lord but he wasn't too impressed by that." Mulciber said with a shrug, not disputing what Avery said.

"The Dark Lord doesn't want nitwit and imbeciles."

"Then why is Mulciber getting marked?" Carrow sniggered.

"You fall into that category more than I do! You haven't even been invited to get marked yet!"

"Enough," Regulus said in a quiet voice, albeit one that held the expectation of being obeyed. Which it was. Almost immediately. "It is not Mulciber's fault that he has to wait. I am lucky that my parents trained me appropriately in a way that the Dark Lord approved."

"You are so lucky," Mulciber said enviously, looking down at his own arm.

Probably imagining it marked with the Dark Lord's Mark as well. It would look good on them. It would look good on all of them.

Saturday 17th September 1977

Head Boy and Girl Suite, 13:00

Sirius couldn't help but whistle in appreciation as he was led into the Head Boy and Girl Suite.

"This is nice."

It was very nice. Basically, a smaller version of the Common Room - there was a roaring fire in the centre of one wall with a sofa and chairs framing it. Less worn ones than the ones in the Gryffindor Common Room. There were one or two other chairs away from the fireplace and some portraits of people Sirius knew nothing about.

What was odd was the fact that the room wasn't in Gryffindor colours - obviously because it wasn't like the Head Boy and Girl were always going to come from Gryffindor. Instead, the walls were cream with warm wood panelling. They had draped a few Gryffindor banners across the ceiling and some portraits, Sirius noticed. Which was nice of them. House pride and all that.

"What do you think?" James asked, stretching out his arms and turning around.

"It's nice and cosy," Peter said, still looking around.

"You get all cosy with Evans?" Sirius asked mischievously.

He made James blush which was both hilarious and intriguing. Had anything happened in here? Remus was also looking at him closely, Sirius noticed.

"No!" James said. "Nothing like that."

"But you'd like something like that," Remus guessed.

Rather accurately if James darkening cheeks were anything to go by.

"I can kick you out," he threatened.

"No, don't do that," Sirius said, sitting himself down on the sofa.

It was extremely firm. Much firmer than any of the best ones back in the Common Room.

"Can I sit?" Peter asked.

"No need to ask," James said with a wave of his hand and sitting down next to Sirius. "You too, Moony."

Remus had already sat down on one of the armchairs. Oh, this was very nice. Not quite the same as all being in the same Dorm but still good. Even though he missed James there, Sirius did not miss him throwing the curtains up at the crack of dawn.

"This is so cool," Peter said excitedly, voicing all of their thoughts.

13:30

"Come on!" McKinnon said impatiently from up ahead.

"You can't get in without the password," Lily said in exasperation from beside him. "And you shouldn't be running in the corridors."

"Oh, sorry, Miss Head Girl," McKinnon said sarcastically and then said in a lighter tone. "I just want to see your new place. Don't you, Severus?"

"Yes."

That's why he was walking up to the Suite with them, after all. And, yes, McKinnon had taken to calling him by his name, which he was fine with but he couldn't quite bring himself to do the same for her.

"Then why are you moving so slowly?"

"No running in the corridors," he said with a straight face.

She made a rather explosive exasperated noise, which was funny.

Severus had to admit, he was insanely curious. There wasn't much in Hogwarts that wasn't open to the students - except for the obvious Staff Quarters - so it was always intriguing to see inside somewhere that was restricted to certain people. He still hadn't managed to persuade Lily to let him see into the Prefect's bathroom. He was sure he'd manage it before the year was out. But he was going to be able to see inside the Head Girl and Head Boy Suite. Not just see into it but stay in it when he hung out with Lily.

The only downside being that he would more than likely have to put up with the Marauders in close quarters but he thought he could manage it. They weren't that bad this year, shockingly.

"Get a move on already!"

"Calm down, Marlene. There's no rush!"

"It's not like the room is suddenly going to disappear on you," Severus joked.

Something McKinnon didn't seem to appreciate from the look on her face.

"This is Hogwarts so it could," she replied quite seriously.

Lily and Severus looked at each and rolled their eyes. Though, they did pick up the pace a bit. Mostly because Severus was afraid that McKinnon would actually try to grab them to drag them along. She may be small but she was a very determined person.

The Suite really wasn't that far away and they soon arrived at it. Severus and McKinnon stood to one side so Lily could mutter the password and the portrait swung open.

"Ha, beat you to it!" came a crowing voice as he and McKinnon were ushered in.

Lily sighed. "Black."

"What? I'm just pointing it out, Evans."

Severus rolled his eyes. What did it matter that the Marauders were here first? It wasn't like it was a competition or anything.

"The Marauders were in here before us?" Marlene asked in an injured tone, actually gesturing at herself at Severus.

It was odd to be included in something like that.

"More like they bulldozed their way in," Lily said with a snort.

Now that was something Severus could believe. Especially with pointedly unapologetic grin Black was currently wearing.

He and Potter were on the sofa while Lupin and Pettigrew were taking up two of the four armchairs, one of which was inexplicably in a corner and looked too heavy to move any closer. Unless someone wanted to sit by themselves, it looked like someone was going to have to sit on the floor. Or one group was going to have to leave.

"You're taking up all the room," Lily told Potter.

"You snooze, you lose, Evans."

"Oh, budge up," McKinnon instructed, giving him a push. "There's room for at least four people on that sofa."

Potter obnoxiously spread himself out so that his body completely took up the remaining space. Black, of course, did the same.

"Oh, look, no room."

Lily stepped over to him and Severus, probably like everyone else, expect her to tell him off. But she didn't do that. Instead, she flicked both boys behind the ear so hard that he heard it. Black and Potter yelped and clutched at their ears. This meant that they were no longer taking up the whole sofa, which Lily took advantage of and dropped herself in between the pair of them. A dangerous place to be in Severus' opinion.

"Ha!" Lily said triumphantly.

Monday 19th September 1977

Auror Academy Dorms, 21:00

Kingsley flung himself down on his bed in the trainee dorms and groaned loudly as every single muscle he had complained. Why did he do that?

"Shh!" someone complained a few cubicles over.

Oh, yes, had he mentioned this before? First, trainees had to live on site for the first third or half of their training (no one was too clear on the timeline). And the site was made up of dormitories, a canteen with serving hatches and bench seating and the bathroom area. The dorms were nothing more than a big, massive hall separated out into cubicles that held three beds each. That's right, cubicles, not rooms. Meaning, the walls didn't reach the ceiling. Just another part of being an Auror Trainee. No privacy. No silence. No time to yourself. Those things were to be earned and trainees at the bottom of the rung couldn't even do that yet. Maybe in the next stage.

Not that any of that mattered right now because he was exhausted. Like, well and truly exhausted. As in, Kingsley seriously didn't think he would be able to use any of his muscles to get out of bed tomorrow.

It had been an especially gruelling day today. He didn't think he had run, jumped or dived so much in his life- and he had enjoyed playing football in the streets when he was younger. Though, goalie had never been his strong point.

They were still mainly on Evasion Strategies, as the topic was called. Who knew that there were so many ways you could escape or avoid something? It was a lot, by the way. They were kept at it all day - only stopping to eat. His bruises had bruises.

Also, did he mention that on top of all this physical work that they also had to study. There was theory to learn, topics to study. Every single physical thing they learnt had reams of theory to back it up. Which, of course they had to learn and therefore be tested on. It was worse than school. So, he's, not only did his body hurt but his brain hurt too. Kingsley just wanted to sleep for a week.

Of course, Callum decided that this was the moment to come bounding into the room.

"Isn't this great?" He said excitedly. "We're learning so much and we're actually going to be Aurors!"

Kingsley just groaned in reply and buried his head in his pillow.

Tuesday 20th September 1977

Longbottom Manor, 11:00

Frank stared at the stack of parchment work that had just arrived for him. Every single sheet of that was necessary for him to read, initial or sign and sometimes even all three. And apparently there was more to come? How could there possibly?

Was this really necessary for just applying to the Aurors? What on earth was he going to have to sign if he was accepted. Not if, when. When he was accepted because he was going to get in. He was going to get in, do his training, pass his training and be an Auror. And then he'd be able to help beat back the evil that was threatening his world. He wouldn't have it!

He gave the parchment a helpless look. He suspected that he also wouldn't have enough ink. With a sigh, he grabbed the top sheet.

Why on earth did his weight matter anyway? Wasn't the whole point of training to get him into shape? And eye colour, really? What next? Shoulder width? Frank scanned the sheet and made an exasperated noise. And there it was. Leg length. Really? Really?

Anyway. It didn't matter. He was going to have to answer everything - he didn't have much choice. The Auror Academy needed it so he had to provide it. There was going to be no reason for why he couldn't get in, none at all. Even if he did give himself muscle strain is his hands from shuffling thorough and signing so much parchment.

Now, how in Merlin's name was he supposed to know if there was any trauma during his birth? That was a little bit much.