Thursday 1st June 1978

Hogwarts Grounds, 15:45

"How's your head?" Chryssie asked anxiously.

"It's been a week, now, I'm fine. You don't have to keep on asking me."

"But-"

"Seriously, I'm fine."

Chryssie fell silent at that and then squinted at him suspiciously.

"Are you sure?"

"Chryssie."

She raised her hands up in the universal 'I surrender' position. "Alright, alright. Don't get your knickers in a twist. I was just checking."

A friend was allowed to check on a friend, weren't they? Especially when said friend had had a bad head injury! Honestly, what type of person even did that sort of thing to someone? It was dangerous!

"Well, you can stop checking. Because I'm fine."

Okay, she would stop. Only because either would only rile him up and that couldn't be good when someone was dealing with a head injury and NEWTs. Severus was lucky that he didn't miss any of his exams because of his injury. That would have seriously sucked. Could you repeat exams that you missed? Was that a thing? Chryssie wasn't sure. She would have to look that up.

Anyway, it was a gorgeous day today and she had managed to persuade the Bat of the Dungeons (as Sirius had taken to teasingly calling him) to come outside with her. So, she may as well enjoy it.

"Okay, okay. Your fine. Fine then. How are you?" She asked.

Severus gave her a look. "I thought you were going to stop going on at me?"

"I am! I wasn't asking about your head! I was asking how you were."

He grumbled and tolled his eyes at her.

"I'm fine. Up to my neck in revision that I should be doing now," he replied pointedly.

"You should always take breaks. Soak up some fresh air."

"There's air inside."

Now it was her turn to give him a look. "Fresh air, Sev. There's no fresh air in the Dungeons."

"I don't spend all my time in the Dungeons."

"The Library with its musty, old books doesn't count as fresh air either!"

They both stared at each other before bursting out into laughter.

"You know, for a Ravenclaw, you really don't like the Library that much," Severus told her. "Moony likes it more than you."

"Moony?"

"Sorry, Remus."

Ah, yes, one of Lily's Marauder friends.

"Doesn't he spend loads of time in the Library?" Chryssie asked.

"Well, yes."

"Then I think he likes it even more than most people. I'm not a very good data point."

Severus rolled his eyes and kicked at a stone that dared get in his way. "And there's the Ravenclaw in you."

Chryssie shrugged her shoulders, having nothing to say to that. She was a Ravenclaw, after all.

"I prefer reading books on the floor while lying on my stomach," she explained. "Which Madam Pince frowns on."

Oh, the scolding she got the last time she attempted to do that in the Library. She was convinced that her ears still rang from it.

"I know, every time I come to your house over the holidays that's where you always are, stretched out in front of the fireplace with a book in hand."

Chryssie blushed at that, though she had no idea why. It wasn't like there was anything embarrassing about being caught reading. Actually, it was a good thing, wasn't it?

"Well, it's fun."

"It's even more fun with your back supported."

"Oh, hush," she said, giving him a playful shove. "Not all of us have aching backs thanks to being hunched over a cauldron all day."

"I don't hunch over a cauldron."

She gave him a look.

"Okay, maybe I do," he said begrudgingly.

Chryssie couldn't help but laugh as he pulled a face at her. Oh, it really was a nice day.

Sunday 4th June 1978

Gryffindor Common Room, 14:00

"Hey, I haven't talked to you in a while," Lily said, sitting herself beside her.

"You don't spend much time in the Common Room anymore," Alice replied, moving up on the sofa to give her some room.

"True. There's just been so much going on this year."

"You've got that right."

Alice felt rather than saw Lily give her a sharp look.

"Are you okay, Alice?"

She shrugged, not really wanting to lie but also not wanting to tell the truth either. Actually, if she was being completely honest, she wasn't sure what she was feeling. Or if she was feeling anything. She kind of felt... cast adrift? Like she had no direction in her life.

"NEWTs stressing you out?" Lily guessed.

She shook her head. "Not more than they are for anyone else."

Because she would be silly to say she wasn't stressed about them. They were called Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests for a reason, after all. But it wasn't the stress that was getting her down.

"They are stressful," Lily agreed.

Alice gave her a sceptical look. Lily Evans was one of those people who made being prepared and studying effortless. Things came easily to her. If she was stressed there was definitely no hope for the rest of them.

"Worried about leaving Hogwarts?" Lily tried again.

Alice actually paused at that. It was almost a good way to describe how she was feeling. Almost. It wasn't that she was worried about leaving Hogwarts... it was just that.

"I don't know how I'm going sort my own days out," she admitted.

It was a weird thing to be nervous about, Alice was sure, but she couldn't help it. For the past seven years for about nine months of the year she had been told fay in and day out what she was doing at what times. What she was and wasn't allowed to do. Mealtimes, school, homework, studying, extracurriculars. They all had a time and a place. She was told what to do and where to go. And by the end of this month, she wouldn't have that anymore. Okay, yes, she would have a bit of that at home. But then she would be getting married and she would have to organise her own day. All of it. She didn't know how to do that! What was she supposed to fill her time with? What if she did something wrong?

"Worried you're not going to be kept busy enough?" Lily asked.

"That's exactly it."

She didn't want to just laze about and "keep house" for Frank. Well, not all day. And it wasn't like that involved her doing much work at all - they had House Elves for a reason. So, what was she supposed to do? Look after her plants? Start a while greenhouse or something of lovely flowers. Now, that actually wasn't a bad idea. Huh. Something to ask Frank about. But even that wouldn't take up all her time.

"You just need to do something that will occupy your time," Lily said. "So, what would you like to do? Something that would take up a lot of time."

"Get married," Alice said automatically.

Lily rolled her eyes at that though Alice didn't know why. Getting married was a valid goal. Especially since that's all you were told since you were old enough to remember.

"Except get married. I meant more like a hobby or something. Something that will get you doing something regularly."

Alice blushed. Oh, of course that's what she meant. It was just that every time someone asked her what her plans were she just automatically answered "getting married". But Lily meant what did she want to do to occupy her time. Yes.

"Oh, I don't know..."

"Surely there must be something you want to do," Lily urged. "What about that first aid course you mentioned before? Or basic healing."

"I suppose..." But Alice wasn't exactly feeling too convinced about that.

Once you got a certification it was done, after all. Right? She wanted something that she could regularly do with no end date.

"As long as it isn't a waste of time." She said resolutely.

Because the one thing she toom from her mother was that it was one thing being lazy and idle but it was a completely different thing to waste your time on pointless tasks. It just made you look silly and she definitely didn't want to look silly.

"What about something to do with Ancient Runes? You're good at those, aren't you?"

"Yeah..."

Alice couldn't help but puff up in pride at that comment though. She was good at Ancient Runes. She was getting consistent Os and EEs and she was kind of hoping for an O in her NEWT. It wasn't outside the team of possibility. Not like a few years ago. But to do something with them? Oh, she didn't know. She wasn't really convinced that would be a good idea. Sure, stories in the original Ancient Runes were fantastic but that's all it was to her. Fun. Did she really want to do work with them? The only real thing you could do was research and that sounded incredibly boring. Not what she wanted at all.

Lily sighed at her in exasperation. Well, it wasn't like Alice had asked her for a solution! Though, a solution to this weird, restless feeling would be nice.

"What do you feel like you should be doing?"

Alice thought back to the headlines this morning. They had been the usual awful ones. Ones she had been sick of hearing. Between that and the nonsense some Slytherins were causing with their stupid graffiti, thinking they were all cool for siding with someone who was so incredibly awful, well, she had had enough. It made her wand hand itch. It made her want to do something about it.

"Fighting." she blurted out, surprising herself.

And Lily if the wide-eyed look she was getting from her meant anything.

Fighting? Was that what she really wanted to do? Sure, she wanted all this pain and suffering and war to stop but so did everyone. That didn't mean she should be the one fighting. Did it?

"Do you mean you want to be an Auror?" Lily asked sceptically.

Alice gave her a helpless look. "I don't know... maybe?"

She wanted to do something. Help out. Not be useless. Did that mean she should become an Auror? Would she even be any good at being am Auror?

Gryffindor Common Room, 20:00

"See! You just flick your wrist so and... you've got it! Awesome!"

James exchanged a high five with a first year much to Lily's confusion.

"What's James doing?" she asked, slipping next to Remus.

"Helping Zach Weasley with his Transfiguration. He was panicking about failing his exam."

"But doesn't he have his own revision to do?"

Remus shrugged. "He was going to go over his Defence but when he heard about Transfiguration troubles... well, you know how he is about Transfiguration."

Lily nodded in understanding. Yes, James Potter was very much obsessed with it. That was something that had never changed over the years. Of anything he had got more interested, if that was possible. The next thing you knew would be him researching how to become an Animagus, knowing him.

"Now, you see for this next bit you have to," James continued, pointing to something in a textbook in front of him and the young Weasley.

The redhead (why did all the Weasleys have red hair?) was listening very intently, a look of determination on his face.

Lily couldn't help but give her boyfriend a fond look as he patiently explained very basic Transfiguration concepts to the first year. She loved how his passion and talent about the subject didn't make him all uppity about it. No, it made him want to share it and help. It was one of his best qualities in her opinion. His best one being his protectiveness and loyally to his friends.

"Hey! That makes sense!"

"Told you, you would get it eventually. You just had to go over it again," James was telling the young Weasley, ruffling his hair.

Which was just about the most adorable thing to witness and Lily wished she had a camera.

Friday 9th June 1978

Hogwarts Grounds, 14:00

James stretched his arms as the sunlight hit them. Between their Defence Theory exam and lunch, they hadn't been out of the castle. And it was such a lovely day too. It had taunted him as he was writing long essay answers to defensive techniques.

But now they were outside and all was well with the world. Until their next exam anyway. It was on Tuesday but they could afford to have a little break. A tiny one. Well, he and Sirius thought so anyway. Remus had taken himself off to the Library to do more studying and Peter had followed, ever anxious about his ability to get good marks.

James didn't know what he was worried about. He knew his stuff even if he thought he didn't. He would be fine. Just like he and Sirius would be.

Maybe. James eyed his best friend who was walking a bit ahead. He was worried about Sirius. Usually, he was worried about all his friends, Remus in particular, but this time Sirius was at the forefront of his worries. He just hadn't been himself recently. Not at all. Not since... not since all those Dark Marks and slogans appeared all over the school.

Well, none of them had been the same since then. It was an awful feeling, feeling like you couldn't trust people in the one place you should be safe from the world. At Hogwarts. James didn't like to think that some of his class ages most definitely supported Voldemort in more ways than just being Dark leaning. He didn't like to think that kids his age were capable of the horrors that Voldemort could inflict. That they wanted to. No. He didn't like to think about it. He couldn't. Hogwarts was supposed to be safe. Especially from people like Avery and Regulus Black.

Oh.

Yeah, everyone knew who had done all that graffiti. Of course, they did. Or were at least behind the idea of it if their smug faces meant anything. Which it did. It meant a lot.

But he didn't want to think about it. He really didn't. But he had to because that was what was affecting his best friend. Basically, his brother.

Brothers. Brothers. Such a troublesome word. Especially for Sirius.

"I just want to run and run," Sirius said impatiently, looking quickly around them.

It looked like a lot of people had the same idea as them but a lot of them had textbook opened in their laps. But there was still plenty of open space.

"Then do it," said James. "No one's going to care."

Hell, that wasn't even the weirdest thing they had done. James doubted that anyone would even look at Sirius if he started running around in circles.

"I meant as Padfoot."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I couldn't do that here."

"I could pretend that I have a dog and you're my let," James offered.

"Dogs aren't on the approved pets list," Sirius pointed out, thought there was a flicker of a grin on his lips.

James shrugged his shoulders and grinned. "Since when do Marauders pay any attention to the rules."

And that got a proper smile from Sirius. Now that was much better.

Wednesday 14th June 1978

Owlery, 15:00

Alice took a deep breath as she came to a stop just outside the Owlery. And then another. It was just a few steps away. Not far at all. She just had to go in and find an owl. Any owl.

The parchment crunched under her fingers as she clutched the bundle too tightly. Whoops. That definitely wouldn't look good. But what also wouldn't look good was not sending them.

She had to send them. Before she lost her nerve.

All this parchment was her application for the Auror Academy. The Auror Academy this summer. End of August they said they were recruiting for. Two months away. And a bit.

It wasn't like there was a closing date for the applications. Not really. The Aurors were constantly recruiting now. They had to. For reasons that Alice didn't want to dwell too much on right now.

Summoning up all of her Gryffindor courage, she pushed open the door and walked right in. Alice couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief when it looked like she was the only person here. She didn't want any talk about what she was sending off. No way.

Instead, she made a beeline for a school owl, trying not to run. It would have to be a big one to be able to carry all these forms. So many forms. Why were there so many forms? She had heard Potter and Black complain about it months ago but she thought that they had been exaggerating because they always exaggerate. But no, they weren't exaggerating. Far from it. There were so many. Alice hadn't realised that simple forms could use so much parchment but they did.

Not that that mattered anymore because now they were all filled out. No more frantic reading or aching hand from writing her signature way more times than should be strictly necessary. No more wondering what the best thing to put down would be. Which was hard because she didn't have anyone who she could get to double check for her. Not like Potter and Black.

She looked at the tawny owl, who blinked slowly at her before sticking out its leg expectantly. But Alice made no movement to attach the forms to it.

She may as well send them off now since they were all filled in. Sure, they were a little rushed and her handwriting could be neater but she had to get them done now that she had made up her mind. There was no going back. She didn't want to go back.

But, well, somehow actually giving them to the owl made everything a bit more final. A bit more real. There really would be no going back once she did this. She would be in the Ministry's hands after that.

And that was where she wanted to be. Resolutely, she tied the bits of parchment to the owl's leg. It gave her an incredibly impatient hoot before flying off. She watched it go, apparently unhindered by the weight on its legs. It flew and flew until it was a dot and then it was gone, leaving g Alice with a faint sense of unease.

Mother and father wouldn't have to know. Not until she got any further in the process. If she got any further in the process.

Something might come of it and nothing might come of it. She would just have to wait and see.

And while she was waiting... Alice checked her watch. Plenty of time before dinner. She had revising to do. At least some good things came out of exams.

Sunday 18th June 1978

Auror Academy, 09:30

"You can't, you can't fail me."

"We can and we have," Williams said unsympathetically.

Frank glared at him but the Senior Auror remained impassive.

"But I was doing well!"

He thought he had been. Obviously not if he failed a module. An important one too. Well, they were all important since they had stripped back the curriculum due to the war and all. But this was still a big one to fail.

Concealment and Disguise. Definitely not one you wanted to fail. Your life was most likely to depend on your skill in this area. Which he was lacking in.

"Which means that you've failed the requirement of becoming an Auror," Williams continued.

Frank's heart sank. Those were the words he never wanted to hear. Ever. And now he was. Yeah, you had to pass the exam of each module of the Auror Training. You could fail up to three assignments in total but you couldn't fail any exams. But he had.

"But what does that mean? Can I resit it? Do something to prove I know what's going on?"

Williams looked around before leading Frank through the Academy to an unused classroom.

"The thing is, Longbottom, we don't think you do know what's going on in this class."

"I do!"

Williams shook his head. "You very obviously don't. Which is why resitting tests or exams would do nothing for you."

Frank frowned, that really wasn't a pleasant thing to hear. Even if it was true.

"I'm sure I could pass on a resit," he argued. "How far off was I from a pass?"

Just a bit more revision, surely, and he would be fine. Right?

"A lot."

Did Williams really have to be so blunt?"

"So-"

"Resitting will be a waste of time."

Right. Great. Because that did wonders for his confidence. Was he really that bad? He had felt like he had been doing so well recently.

"So, that's it? I'm out? I'm not going to an Auror?"

"Don't be ridiculous," he was told sharply. "We offer the opportunity to resit modules."

Frank gave him a doubtful look but Williams went onto explain.

"You can join the incoming recruits for that module. We're mixing it up this year and it's going to be first. The more time spent on this one, the better. You aren't the only one who failed it. So, you can join them and sit the exam at the end again."

Frank sat back and blinked at him uncomprehendingly. That was possible? But he would have e to join those younger than him. And they were bound to know he was repeating. Especially James and Sirius. They would be a part of the new intake. It would be humiliating.

But, well, he wanted to be an Auror. Badly. He had found what he wanted to do. What he had thought he was good at. And he still wanted to do it. This was just a little setback, wasn't it?

Monday 19th June 1978

Dungeons, 15:30

He had been pacing up and down here for a while now. Since after lunch, to be exact. So, what was that? Three hours? Two and a half? Whatever. All that mattered was that it had been a long time. And he had the time to do that right now because all his exams were over as of this morning. His and James'. It had been the Transfiguration Practical which, to be honest, was a piece of cake. Challenging, don't get him wrong, but very much doable. The examiner had been very complimentary about his abilities. A really good end to the horrible exam season. Because it didn't matter how good you were at school, exams were still exhausting and horrible and NEWTs really were the worst of the lot.

But now he had other things to worry about. Oh, not the Auror Academy or anything. Sirius wasn't worried about that at all. No, this was something much closer to home. Recently. And he wasn't so much worried as furious.

How could Regulus do such a thing? Side with such a thing? Okay, his little brother's viewpoints weren't exactly a surprise but the sheer extent he was willing to go to display them? That was only bad news.

But Sirius wasn't going to let it go. He wasn't. No. He was going to try and do something about it. But he needed Regulus to, you know, tell him off.

Sirius finally saw his chance and pounced. Literally pounced. It would have been amusing how high Regulus jumped into the air but it was done for a very serious reason so he couldn't laugh.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sirius hissed.

"Excuse me?" Regulus demanded, shrugging off Sirius' hands. "What are you doing?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Sorry, I don't speak moron," Regulus sneered.

Sirius gave him a good shake that made his teeth clatter.

"You. Little. Idiot."

Regulus stubbornly stayed silent which was okay with Sirius because that meant he could go off on him about his poor choices, allegiance with a mad man and overall stupidity. It was a good lecture; he had been holding it back for weeks.

"You think you know everything but you don't!" Regulus burst out as Sirius came to an end.

"I know that what you've done is incredibly stupid."

Regulus smirked at him. "You see, that's where we differ."

Sirius gave his brother, his little brother, a long look. How could he-? Why did he-? Actually, Sirius knew exactly why. And he also knew that he was technically the odd one. But still, how could people stand for such horrors never mind actively aid and abet it?

"So, I see," Sirius replied slowly which only made Regulus' smirk get bigger.

Saturday 24th June 1978

Hogsmeade, 10:00

"This is so weird." Lily said, shaking her head as she drank in all the sights of Hogsmeade.

Which was stupid because it wasn't like it was her first time or anything. But it was going to be her last. She had persuaded everyone to go early for this very reason. She wanted to spend as much time in here as possible.

"What's weird?" James asked, twining his fingers in hers.

She really liked the way their hands fit together like that. It was silly, but sometimes she wondered what their hands would look like with rings on them. She got rid of those thought quickly enough. They were more than a bit silly. Ridiculous, even. She was eighteen!

"That this is out last time in Hogsmeade."

James gave her a puzzled look. "How come?"

"Well, this is our last Hogsmeade Weekend, James."

"You do know that we can come to Hogsmeade when we've left Hogwarts, right? It doesn't belong to the school or anything."

"Actually," Remus said. "It does. The land Hogsmeade is built on belongs to Hogwarts."

"Yeah, yeah, okay, Moony," James waved him off. "But that's doesn't stop people who aren't from Hogwarts coming here when they please."

Lily could feel her cheeks heating up 9n her embarrassment.

"I knew that."

Which, of course, made Sirius and, surprisingly, Severus, roar with laughter. Idiots. She stepped forward to shove one of them when they were interrupted by multiple cracks. Apparition cracks, to be exact. Lily should know, some of their Year had just started to get the hang of it in her Apparition lessons. Her included. She had managed it twice so far. But who on earth apparated into a busy Hogsmeade street? That was like one of the first rules you were taught. You simply didn't do it. It was just asking to land on someone.

All those thoughts left her head when she realised who was in front of her. Or was that a what? Either way, she looked on in horror as she saw people that she'd only ever seen in fuzzy photographs in Th Daily Prophet.

Death Eaters.

Easily identifiable with their large, black cloaks that covered everything except their faces. But their white masks did that rather easily.

Lily felt like she had been frozen into place. There was no way that she could be seeing what she was seeing. Could there?

It was like the entirety of Hogsmeade was thinking the same as her because for the briefest of confused moments there was complete silence. You could hear a pin drop. Of course, this lasted for only a few second before bedlam broke out.

It was insane. People were shouting and others were crying. Everyone seemed to be running. Lily didn't know what to do. If she should be doing anything.

Then a flash of light erupted from a Death Eater's wand and suddenly the shouts turned to screams and people became more manic.

Students. There were students here, Lily thought, completely ignoring the fact that she was also a student. But she was an adult. There were children here. Children!

"Get the younger years out of here!" Lily hissed at Remus.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Remus demanded. "It's not like I can just make my voice louder and order them to go back to the castle!"

Everyone looked at him.

"Except you can," Sirius told him. "Hello, Sonorous?"

Remus blinked at him making Sirius sighed impatiently and cast the spell on him.

"WHAT?" Remus involuntarily shouted, making them all wince. "OH. HOGWARTS STUDENTS PLEASE EVACUATE THE VILLAGE. I REPEAT, PLEASE EVACUATE THE VILLAGE."

Not that he really needed to do that for the younger years, who were all running away, but still. The announcement made some who were standing frozen I shock to actually move. Lily had to give one of the Weasleys a sharp shove to get him moving and out of the way of a curse.

James sent out a stunner that actually hit its mark. The Death Eater went down, much to the confusion of his partner. It looked like he was about to revive him so Lily shot off a jinx of her own. She missed, she had moved too quickly to get her aim perfect, but it had distracted the second Death Eater so the first one stayed down. Good. That's all she wanted.

"Tonks, what the hell are you doing?" Sirius bellowed.

"Helping!" the younger girl shouted, ducking away from a sickly yellow curse.

Lily didn't know what happened after that. The next minutes (or was it hours?) was a blur of fighting, hiding, dodging. She didn't even know she was capable of doing all that but apparently, she was. Not in a particularly skilled manager but she was managed to keep herself alive.

All her friends were managing to do so as well. Thankfully. Chryssie, she noticed, had dragged someone's limp form off to one side and was tending to it. Lily let herself feel a brief surge of pride for her sister before a spell made her focus on the problem at hand.

More fighting. More debris flying. She was pretty sure her face was sliced to ribbons but she couldn't stop. They all had to keep going.

Until there were more cracks of apparition. Lily honestly thought they were more Death Eaters before she realised that they were their professors. McGonagall, Flitwick, their Defence Professor. They had thankfully joined the fray. Lily thought that meant she could stand aside but another spell shot her way nixed that idea.

A third set of cracks was heard and Lily recognised the grey and scarlet robes of the Aurors.

These were the people who finally sent the Death Eaters running. There was a final set of cracks and they were gone, leaving bodies and swirling dust in their wake.

Lily's ears rang from the sudden lack of noise. What exactly had just happened?