Wednesday 1st March 1978

Seventh Year Gryffindor Boys Dorm, 19:00

"Do you think I should tell him?" Remus asked suddenly.

"Tell what to who?" James asked, flipping through a very advanced looking Transfiguration textbook.

"Severus."

That got them all paying attention. It would have been quite amusing if it wasn't about something so serious. Because, yeah, they all knew what he was talking about. He had been thinking about it for a while. Since it looked, like Severus was going to stay with their group. Kind of like an unofficial Marauder. Which meant he should tell him, right? Because Severus was trustworthy. He thought so anyway. But this was a big secret. A massive one. And what if he was betrayed? So close to getting his NEWTs? Could he do that? Should he do that?

He thought he should. And thought he shouldn't. Oh, why did he even have to make these decisions. It wasn't fair. But life wasn't fair, was it? No, it wasn't. Oh, it could be good and it could be fun but it wasn't fair. Innocent people dying by the dozens every day was proof of that. Was his secret really that important in the grand scheme of things? Especially since it was for a friend?

Friend. Huh. Something if you asked him about six years ago, he never would have believed. And now he had three best friends in his fellow Marauders, two really good friends in Lily and Severus and friends with Nymphadora and Chryssie. It was almost more than what he knew what to do with.

"It's you secret, Moony, so it's up to you," James said after a moment's thought. "If you think you can trust him then go for it."

"Hey, wait, we had to guess," Sirius said with a pout, crossing his arms. "Let him guess too."

"Maybe he already has?" James suggested.

"Yeah, he doesn't seem the type to confront someone about this sort of thing," said Peter.

"He's a Slytherin," James said with a shrug. "They gather and hold onto information until they need it."

That really didn't help matters. It made it sound like Severus would tell everyone if he was given the right incentive. Or was he reading too much into it? Was Severus even like that?

"He hasn't said anything to me," Remus said with a frown. "Do you really think he knows?"

James shrugged. "I really don't know. I've never heard him hint at it or anything but he doesn't talk a lot anyway."

Remus frowned. That wasn't something he had considered, Severus already knowing.

"Look, what's you're reasoning for telling him?" James asked pragmatically, seeing the conflict he was experiencing.

"Well, it feels wrong to keep it from him."

"Why?"

"Because he's become a really good friend and, well, and-"

"And?" James prompted.

"And I feel like I trust him," Remus answered in realisation. "Wait, no, I do trust him."

"Looks like you answered that yourself then," Sirius said.

Yeah. It looked like he did. He was actually going to volunteer his secret. Wow.

"I need to tell Lily too, then." Remus realised, rubbing his forehead.

Suddenly, he felt like he needed a headache potion. There was just so much to think about. Things to take into account.

"You don't have to tell her anything, Moony," James disagreed. "You can tell whoever you like."

He supposed, but it wouldn't feel right telling Severus and not tell Lily. He had known Lily for longer, after all.

"I pretty sure she suspects."

"So, you'd just be confirming it," Peter stated.

"I think so."

Remus couldn't help but feel unsure about even the thought of it. What if she didn't suspect? What if she had a bad reaction? What if-?

"Lily isn't going to care," James interrupted his thoughts. "She's not like that."

"How do you know that?" Remus demanded. "It's not like werewolves come up in everyday conversation."

"Well, no," James admitted. "But it's Lily. She doesn't, won't, care about things like that. She's sensible."

"Oh, you mean like you lot?"

"Exactly."

"You, who didn't run away screaming when I confirmed it to you. You, who didn't rat me out to anyone. You, who became bloody, fucking Animagi to help. You, who run with a werewolf every month? That's sensible?"

Remus was breathing very heavily at the end of that tirade. He hadn't realised he was going to say that much.

"Got that all out of your system?" Sirius asked, crossing his arms.

Remus held up a finger. "One more thing. You are all still mad as hatters for accepting me."

"Why are hatters mad?" Peter asked, confused at the muggle expression.

"Because to make hats people used to have to use Mercury to do so, which turns you mad over time," Remus explained. "And we're off topic."

"Yeah," James agreed. "Look, of you want to tell them, why don't you do it when you're all over at mine for the Easter break? I've already invited Lily and Severus anyway; they'll both be there for a day. That way we don't have to secret ourselves somewhere in hope that someone doesn't interrupt us."

"I don't want to spoil the holiday with that."

"You won't," James dismissed.

"Isn't the Suite good enough for it?" Peter asked.

"Professor McGonagall and Prefects sometimes stop by," James explained.

"Ah."

"I'm going to tell them," he said decisively.

Sunday 5th March 1978

Second Floor Corridor, 14:00

"So, you'll think about it?" Tonks asked hopefully.

"Sure," Sirius said with a shrug. "No promises, though. I don't know what the Potters are doing or when the Aurors will summon me."

"That won't be u till after you get your NEWTs, though," she pointed out.

"Yeah, well, I'll get back to you."

"Cool," then she looked over his shoulder. "Oh, hi James." She looked back at Sirius. "I need to head on, here, Remus wanted to show me spell chains."

"You and Remus, eh?" Sirius wiggled his eyebrows.

"Oh, shut up!" she said, giving him a shove.

"What was that all about?" James asked, watching Tonks dart away.

"Just Tonks asking me something," Sirius replied with a shrug.

"Anything important."

"Just that she wanted to invite me back for Easter."

"Oh, and what did you say?"

"That I wasn't sure."

"Why not?"

"It's, just. I mean. I don't want to leave you all alone," Sirius scrambled for an answer.

Not that that worked on James. Not if his raised eyebrow was anything to go by. Sirius squirmed under his gaze.

"It was so awkward over the summer," he finally admitted.

James looked surprised at that. "I thought you all got on very well."

"We did. Kind of."

Sirius thought back to last summer. It had been really nice to hang out with Tonks more and to actually talk with Andromeda. Her husband was very nice. Ted. He was a Healer. A good one. Who would have thought? But... well, the thing was... they still didn't really know each other. They were family but not family, you know? He was closer to James and Remus and Peter and he'll, maybe even Severus than he was Andromeda, despite all the letters they had exchanged over the years. And that sucked. Curse the stupid Black Family stupid politics and blood purity. It was all their fault.

"What do you mean 'kind of'?" James asked, confused. "Surely either you got along or you didn't."

Sirius sighed at James' innocence eve now. If only life was that simple.

"It's like I don't know her at all," he tried to explain. "But I also felt like I do know her. Sort of."

It was confusing to explain and even more confusing to think about. He didn't know what to think.

"Relationships take time," Padfoot," James said gently. "Especially if you can't see each other all the time."

"I know but I really thought it would be easier."

"You're the same age as her daughter," James pointed out. "It's probably weird for her too."

Well, yeah. It was weird that he and Andromeda were considered to be in the same generation, according to the Black Family Tree anyway. But it wasn't like Andromeda could help that her mother had multiple miscarriages and the odd stillbirth between her and Bellatrix, accounting for the massive gap. It was rather sad, if you thought about it. Which Sirius tried not to, too much anyway. It just didn't feel right to do so.

Anyway, he was uncomfortable enough thinking about Andromeda. He didn't need to add more to it unnecessarily.

"I suppose," Sirius said begrudgingly.

Because, yeah, James had a point. He normally did. Why did James have to make sense when he was being all serious?

James wrapped an arm across his shoulders in a brief hug.

"It's alright," he said soothingly. "It's not like you've not got the time. You've both got the rest of your lives ahead of you."

Wednesday 8th March 1978

Auror Academy, 16:00

Frank's skidded along the floor and shielded his face as the wall rapidly approached. He braced himself for the impact that never came. Confused, he lowered his arms only to jumped straight in the air as a voice bellowed at him.

"Longbottom! What do you think you are doing? Shift your arsenal and keep moving! Think the Death Eaters are going to wait for you to get your bearing back? Move! Move! Move!"

For someone who was a man of few words, Moody sure did talk a lot. No, sorry, Frank didn't think he'd ever heard the man talk normally. He either growled or shouted. And he had been doing an awful lot of shouting today.

Mostly at him. But that's because he could apparently do nothing right. He couldn't react fast enough. He couldn't understand the strategies they'd gone over today. And he couldn't get through this course. This was the third time he had been through it today and he was nowhere near the finish line. Nowhere near it. Actually, he was further than he was on his last try before he had fallen and that was just depressing. He was getting worse, not better.

"Move it, Longbottom! Don't stand there looking dazed. And look! Now you're dead."

With a sigh, Frank lowered his wand as the lights were turned back on. Yeah, this course was done not quite in complete darkness but dark enough. Late evening light would be the best way to describe it. You wouldn't think that would make everything harder but it did.

"Get your sorry arsenal over here," the balding instructor barked at him.

Frank's trudged back, trying not to scrunch up his nose. Did they really have to use the word 'arse'? It was quite unnecessary.

Just like this lecture was going to be. Trust him, he already knew how many things had gone wrong.

Tuesday 14th March 1978

Gryffindor Table, Great Hall, 08:15

It was sad to even think about it but the normal cries that came from the presence of the black Ministry owls were, well, normal now. More than normal really, if that was possible. Marlene thought that she would find it odd to not see a few of them a week. Sometimes a day when there had been a particularly bad raid. It was horrible and everything but normal. It was odd what could become normal when it happened often enough.

Either way, the front page of the news didn't interest her. It was only another raid. Huh. Only. But there was no point in getting fired up, not when she couldn't do anything about it.

Normal gossip was still interesting, however. Mainly because it was so inane that it was amazing that people were paying attention to it. But she supposed that people needed something that wasn't blood, guts and gore. Something that would distract them.

Like the fact that apparently the Malfoys still didn't have an heir despite being married for five years. Had they really been married that long? Marlene didn't think so but then again, the Daily Prophet did like to over-exaggerate things. It also was odd that Narcissa Malfoy wasn't pregnant yet. Normally the whole point of those arranged marriages between the upper-class pureblood was to provide an heir for the family. And the Malfoys had no such heir despite there only being one branch of them. They needed an heir.

What Marlene did not need was an analysis on why Narcissa Malfoy wasn't pregnant. Nope. That was nobody's business. And it was kind of gross to think about.

Over to the next page she went. Which really wasn't any better than what she had read so far.

"Oh, the Lestranges are back on the Ministry's watch list," Marlene commented, reading the first article that wasn't the headline news.

Though, it was related to the front page. The front page being dedicated to a particularly nasty raid. Thankfully, nobody dead but they were all horrifically injured. Mutilated, really. And it was only down to the quick response of the Aurors that the family weren't dead. Also, because of their quick response time, they actually fought the Lestranges. They had interrupted them in their little torture and killing spree. Here the Lestranges being back on a watch list.

Well, good on them. Aurors were awesome. And she was going to be one. Hopefully. Then she'd be the one fighting people like the Lestranges, keeping them away from innocents.

Sirius had taken the newspaper off her, read the article and then promptly said nothing. She didn't really expect Sirius to respond. He tended to avoid all mentions of his family. Not that she blamed him but she did kind of expect some sort of reaction. But there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. It must be hard, being a part of a family like that. She didn't know what she would do if she was the only member of her family that didn't support Dark Magic. It must be awful. And being a boy, Sirius had it even worse. People expected him to uphold his family values and he just... didn't.

Marlene sighed loudly. She didn't like thinking about Sirius' family situation. It was depressing. She started shuffling through the paper. Was there nothing positive in here?

Friday 17th March 1978

Hogsmeade Station, 17:00

Lily stretched as she stood up and the train came to a stop. Finally. The train ride always felt longer when they were heading home for some reason. Probably because she really wanted to get there.

"Don't forget that you're coming for Easter dinner," Lily reminded her boyfriend.

"Friday, isn't it?" James replied with a twinkle in his eye.

A twinkle she did not appreciate and she gave him a sharp poke in the arm to tell him so.

"Oh!" He yelped, clutching his arm. "You have pointy fingers!"

"James!"

"Okay, I know. I know it's Sunday. You've told me five times already."

Had she? She didn't think it had been that many times... but she was nervous. And she had a right to be, in her opinion. James, her boyfriend, was coming to her house, where her parents were, to have dinner with them. Easter dinner er at that so it wasn't going to be quick. No escaping or anything. It made things feel a bit more serious in her mind and that made her nervous. She wanted it to go well.

As if he guessed her thoughts, James tried to sooth her. "It will be fine. We'll be fine."

"Seriously," Chryssie said with an eye roll. "Mum and Dad are going to love him."

"See? Even your sister thinks so."

"Your wiser sister," Chryssie added.

"Just because you are a Ravenclaw does not make you wiser." Lily shot back.

"Of course, it does."

"Anyway, you're coming over to mine as well," James told her.

"But this is going to be the first time you've been to mine."

"And it's going to be fine."

"You don't know that."

Her parents could hate him. He could hate her parents. Nothing would work out.

"Lily, it's going to be fine."

Tuesday 21st March 1978

Potter Manor, 14:00

"I told you! I told you! I told you!" Severus said triumphantly, jabbing a finger at Lily at each proclamation.

Remus had just told them his big secret. At James' House (which really was massive, by the way). That he was a werewolf. Which wasn't the most exciting thing right now because that would be the fact that he was right all along. Ha! Take that, Lily!

"Yes, you did."

Lily added an eye roll for good measure.

"Wait, you're not surprised. Why are you not surprised?" He demanded.

"Because it wasn't a surprise?"

"How was it not a surprise? Did you already know? Did he already tell you?

"Yes and no." she replied.

"I didn't tell her until just now with you," Remus interjected.

"You didn't," Lily confirmed and then she shrugged. "But it wasn't that hard to figure out."

James and Sirius immediately broke out into laughter.

"Thanks," Remus said dryly.

"Told you, Moony."

"Moony!" Severus exclaimed. "Like the moon! Everything makes sense now!"

"Uh, yeah," Remus said, rubbing g the back of his head. "Look, I just, well, are you okay with this?"

"Okay with it?" Severus asked incredulously. "I'm great with it now that I know what's going on. I mean, wait," he gave Remus a suspicious look. "You don't want to go attacking people or anything?"

"What? No!" Remus said loudly with wide eyes. "No, definitely not. Actually, I'm locked away to make sure that doesn't happen! Dumbledore made sure of it himself."

Severus heaved a sigh of relief. That was the only thing that popped to mind that was bad about this. But if Dumbledore sorted all this out then Remus had to be safe. It wasn't like he had been overly concerned about that in the first place, all he had ever wanted to know was what Remus was hiding and now he did! He was a werewolf! That was kept safe from them! A werewolf! He knew it! Well, maybe not exactly but he had his suspicions!

"Well, Moony," James clapped Remus on the back. "I don't think Lily or Severus really mind about your furry little problem."

Lily snorted loudly. "That's what that was about? Not a rabbit?"

Remus face palmed. "No. Not a rabbit. I hate rabbits. Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Of course, I am. You're still you, Remus Lupin. Even if you have a... furry little problem once a month."

"Not you too!"

Her lips twitched. "Sorry. Couldn't resist."

She even exchanged a high five with James.

"Severus?" Remus asked hesitantly, turning to him.

Severus shook his head. "Yeah, I'm good as well and I'll keep your secret. You are definitely not a danger to anyone."

Remus heaved a sigh of relief, his eyes oddly damp.

"See, Moony? Everything has worked out," Sirius said happily.

"Wait, if Moony is Remus because of the full moon, what do your nicknames mean?" Severus asked shrewdly.

The Marauders all exchanged looks that he couldn't decipher.

"Maybe leave that for another day," James told him.

Whatever, that didn't really bother him as much. Not when he finally got an answer to his question after all these years! He was just going to revel in the fact that he now knew.

"Are you happy now that your theory has been proven?" Lily asked with an eye roll.

"I bet I was right about the portraits as well." He said petulantly.

"What's this about the portraits?" James asked in interest.

Lily covered her hand with her face. "Oh, don't get him started."

James just looked even more interested at that. Good, because it was important. Even more important than a werewolf being in Hogwarts. It sounded like Remus couldn't do any damage if he tried. The portraits could, if you used their information right. And did Dumbledore even do anything with the information he heard from the portraits? What all did the portraits overhear? Probably everything. Someone else had to see how big this was.

"You know how the portraits move and talk, right?"

"That's what portraits tend to do."

"Yes, I know, I'm getting there," Severus said impatiently. "Well, they are also imbibed with the magic of Hogwarts, right?"

"I suppose..."

"And who controls the wards and all that magic?"

"The Headmaster. Dumbledore." James was getting excited now. "You don't think-?"

Severus nodded. "That's exactly what I think."

"How am I one of the more sensible people here?" Sirius asked. "James, you are being more ridiculous than normal and I really expected more from you Severus. Whims of fancy like this aren't usually your forte."

"Whims of fancy?" Severus spluttered. "I think not!"

"Yeah," James backed him up. "It could totally be true. Right, Remus?"

Remus was currently pinching the bridge of his nose. "No, just no."

"Moony!"

"Do you have any proof?"

They all looked to Severus.

"Well, no, not exactly. But I have seen him talking to them. And it makes sense!"

"It really does," James agreed.

"It really doesn't," Sirius told them.

Of course, they both ignored him.

"A portrait spy ring," James said in amazement. "It all makes sense."

"It makes no sense at all, Prongs," Remus said in exasperation, folding his arms.

"Thank you!" Lily exclaimed.

James wrapped an arm around Severus' shoulders. "It does so make sense."

Severus shoved his arm off but was happy that someone was on his side.

"See? Other people believe it too!"

"I wouldn't get too excited about that," Sirius told him. "James is the weirdo who believes that Friday the thirteenth actually brings bad luck."

"It does!" James argued.

No one said anything in response, mainly because they didn't want to listen to his rant for the umpteenth time. It was very repetitive.

"Well," Severus said. "This is something real to believe in."

Thursday 23rd March 1978

Smith Sett, 15:00

Frank and Alice were just wandering around the grounds around her house like they were wont to do when they were here. There really wasn't anything else they could do that wasn't under the eagle eye of her parents. Who disapproved of them even sitting too close side by side? Really? Anyway, she still had to live with them until her wedding so she put up with it. It was still nice to get outside though. She loved the first warm days of Spring.

"You haven't been acting like yourself at all, Alice," Frank suddenly said.

"What do you mean?"

Alice thought she had been acting quite normally. She had been careful not to be too quiet or to zone out of conversations. She had even deliberately started conversations. Everything was supposed to be normal and calm and good.

"Everything's fine, Frank."

He didn't look like he believed her. That wasn't good.

"It isn't. I know it isn't. I know you, Alice and you're not fine."

"It's nothing to worry about."

Because it wasn't. The last thing she wanted to do was worry him over absolutely nothing. He had enough gone on without her telling him something that wasn't even important.

He moved so he was right in front of her and she had no option but to look at him.

"Alice, you do know that communication is the most important thing in a relationship? No one can do anything if they don't know what's going on," Frank said earnestly. "And I don't know what's going on so I don't know how I can help."

"It's nothing you can help with."

It wasn't. She just had to stop being so silly.

"It's not about our wedding, is it?" He said, sounding alarmed. "Because if you want it at some other time or even-"

Alice excited to put a stop to him right there before je had a full-blown panic attack. He was breathing a bit too heavily for her liking.

"It isn't about the wedding," she said calmly.

But that didn't seem to claim him down at all. In fact, it seemed to make him worse.

"You do still want to get married, don't you? Because, I-"

"I want to get married to you, I do," Alice said earnestly. "I just, I just-"

Oh, how was she supposed to put it I to words. She didn't even know how to describe what she was feeling, never mind actually say it. Frank was looking at her expectantly which made her doubt herself even more. Should she just come out and say something? Maybe she shouldn't. Oh, but she wanted to she just couldn't put her thoughts into words.

"You just," Frank promoted her when it became evident that she wasn't going to finish her sentence.

"I want to be more than someone who's just married to you," she finished softly, refusing to look anywhere at him.

She didn't want to see his face. She couldn't. Would it be like a betrayal to him? Awful? Rude? All three?

"Alice, Alice," he tried to get her attention. "Alice."

"Yes?" she said meekly.

She hesitantly looked up and, surprisingly, Frank didn't look sad or angry. He looked... kind? Reassuring?

"I understand, Alice."

"I mean, I love you, I really do. And I want to be married but, wait. What?"

He smiled at her. Oh, how she loved Frank's smile. It had to be the best thing in the world.

"I understand."

"You do?"

He did? How could we understand? How could he possibly? He was so confident and brave and smart and-

"You want to be more than a married person and that's all there is to you."

Alice felt her eyes widen. "That's, that's exactly what I meant."

How did he know that? Was the Auror Academy teaching him Leglimency? Frank was just smiling at her without explaining.

"How do you know that?" she demanded.

This wasn't funny!

"Because I used to feel the same way."

Monday 27th March 1978

Auror Academy, 11:30

Kingsley wiped sweat off his face as the duel ended. He was panting heavily his arm ached and he was somewhat singed. But all that didn't matter because he had finally won a duel. A proper one, not one of those ones where they had paired off with one firing spells and the other shielding. No, this had been a real duel - only his third ever - and he had won.

It was hard to believe that he hadn't even been here for a year yet. Nearly, he was past the half way point now, but still, it felt like he had been at the Academy forever. So much had happened. He had grown so much. He was winning duels. How cool was that? He hadn't even thought of things like this when he was in school.

And then, after this, he was going to be learning all about stealth and tracking and then there was only two more modules to cover and he'd be graduating. Hopefully anyway. But that was still a way off.

He jogged over to where the stands were so the instructor (he still was rubbish at remembering names) shuffled through his notes. Kingsley knew the drill. They were going to go over the duel with a fine-tooth comb. Point out what went well, what went bad and what would have been good with a little improvement. This was the reason so few duels happened - way too many things to discuss. Not that he minded, it did really help.

"Well done, Shacklebolt."

Oh, how glorious those words were.

Sunday 26th March 1978

Evans House, 13:30

Lily smiled as she watched James interact with the family. She didn't know what she had been worried about, her parents seemed to really like him. Or, we're at least entertained by him. Which was also good, no complaints from her there.

Of course, James was really laying on 'the Potter Charm', as he called it but he wasn't being obnoxious about it. Her dad hated people like that.

But he definitely didn't seem to hate James. In fact, he was smiling and nodding along. Even discussing things. Apparently, James' dad followed cricket? On the radio, not the TV, of course. Gavin was trying to explain the rules to James.

Chryssie nudged her and grinned.

"It's going well, isn't it?"

"Yes, it really is."

"Seriously, Mrs Evans, you cook better than our House Elves and one of them has training from a French chef," James was now saying very appreciatively as he ate the roast Rosemary had prepared.

That compliment actually made her mother blush as she went over how she made it.

"Cooking really is like magic, isn't it?" James said happily. "With delicious results."

And that basically sealed the deal for her mother. Not that Lily was complaining. Everyone was having a great time.

An annoyed sigh came from beside her and Lily couldn't help but frown. Well, nearly everyone was having a good time. Petunia wasn't. But that was because their parents hadn't allowed her to skip Easter dinner just because James and Severus were here. So, after a brief but loud argument (where the word freak was said far too many times for Lily's liking), Petunia was here. Not talking but that meant she wasn't arguing or being awful. There was no point in even trying with her sometimes.

No, Lily wasn't going to focus on Petunia. That could be dealt with later. She wanted to enjoy this meal. She picked up her fork and smiled across at her boyfriend.

"Hey, mum? Do you know what the Marauders did just before Easter?"

"No, Lily!" James said. "Don't tell her! That didn't turn out well at all!"

"That's an understatement," Severus snorted.

"Yeah, no thanks to you!"

"I told you those spells wouldn't work as well as you thought they would!"