Wednesday 2nd August 1978

Evans Home, 14:00

It had been a lovely, easy day so far. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, she had finally got a start date for her work in the Department of Mysteries. It was in two weeks. Plenty of time to get sorted. She was still contemplating getting a flat in London. Not right away, of course she would have to save up for a month or two. And she wasn't sure she wanted to do that yet. It wasn't like travel was an issue, she could apparate now. She had passed her test (yet another reason to celebrate, the celebrations kept coming these past few weeks, hopefully that would continue for the next few weeks).

She hummed as she thought about all of this, swinging the plastic bag on her arm. She had offered to do go into the town to get a few essentials, she would be bored out of her mind otherwise, waiting until dinner. Though, Severus was coming over, at her mother's insistence. Rosemary didn't think that he could survive in a flat on his own. She was convinced he would starve or something.

Not that Lily was complaining, she got to see her best friend every evening most days of the week. Now if only she could persuade her boys to do the same thing...

And yes, the Marauders were "her boys". Of course, they were. And they were also getting an apartment in London soon. She had far more misgivings about them sharing a flat and surviving than Severus. Severus at least had some common sense. Her boys did not.

Lily went into her house and dumped her bags on the kitchen table. A noise came from the living room and she frowned. Had her parents got back early? She entered her living room not expecting to see what she did.

There was a pig. A pig in the middle of the rug. And four people she definitely was not expecting.

"James," she said in a strained voice. "What the hell are you doing?"

She hadn't even expected to see her boyfriend in her house today, never mind see him in her house with a pig in her living room. Wasn't he supposed to be looking for apartments?

James looked up from his crouched position to the left of the pig.

Her boyfriend gave her a strange look and replied matter-of-factly, "Improving its look."

Lily just blinked at him.

"It's harder than you think," Sirius decided to chip in because of course he was here as well. "Honestly, how do you decide if a Mohawk or an afro would look better?"

Dora scrunched up her nose (why was she here?). "A Mohawk would be weird. Afros are way cooler."

Sirius and James nodded in agreement.

"Am I the only one who notices that there is a bloody pig in my house?" Lily demanded once she had regained her powers of speech.

"It's not bloody!" exclaimed Sirius indignantly.

"You're not." Remus added; Lily hadn't noticed him as he had been lounging on her sofa. "I refuse to be involved. And no, I don't know where they got it."

"It was about to be slaughtered, Moony," James informed him with a pained look on his face. "I couldn't let that happen!"

"Yet you eat a kilo of sausages as well as three pig's worth of bacon every day," Lily told him.

"Shush!" James said frantically, waving his arm (making the pig give him a weird look) "Lord Porkers McRashers might hear you!"

Remus snorted from behind his newspaper but offered no help in the way of actually containing this madness.

"How did you even get in?" Lily asked.

Chryssie was out somewhere with Severus and her parents, like she said, were out.

"Your sister, Petunia, let us in," James explained.

"She didn't look too happy about it but she thankfully left."

Ah. Okay. That part made sense. At least Petunia let them in she supposed.

Lily looked again at the pig, groaned and looked at her watch. "Look, guys, my parents are going to be home any second now and they will not appreciate a pig in their tidy living room!"

Who would appreciate a pig in their living room? She doubted even farmers would appreciate that. She would have to asked Marlene about that. You know, when there wasn't a pig in her living room.

"Pigs are clean animals," said Dora matter-of-factly.

Lily gave up. She slid onto her sofa and put her face into her hands. Just at that moment, Rosemary and Gavin walked in the door.

"Hello?" Rosemary called out, letting Gavin struggling with an armload of shopping and the kitchen door. "Anyone home?"

"In here, mum." Lily replied dejectedly.

Gavin tried to open the kitchen door with his elbow. "Honey, a little help here!" he called.

"Sorry dear," Rosemary said with a grin and bustled out to help him.

The two of them soon returned to the living room. Rosemary gaped at the scene.

"Cool," Gavin commented, going over to feel the pig to make sure it was real and they weren't just imagining things.

"Boys, why is there a purple and bronze striped pig in my living room?" Rosemary demanded in a very similar way to Lily.

"It also has yellow and pink spots," Sirius added unhelpfully.

Severus and Chryssie arrived through the floo. Severus took one look at the scene in front of him and took himself into the kitchen.

"I need a drink," he muttered.

"Give me something strong as well," requested Rosemary weakly.

"Ever tried fire whiskey?" Severus called back. "It's got quite a kick."

"And hopefully enough alcohol to make us forget that this ever happened," said Chryssie, eyeing the pig nervously. Childhood memories of a pig stampede in her grandfather's farm had resurfaced.

"He's a present for Voldie," James said cheerfully, not noticing any of the weird looks he received. "Y'know, it's a statement."

"What sort of statement?" asked Gavin, hiding a smile.

"That pigs are scarier than him." James replied.

Rosemary downed the drink Severus passed her, earning her several looks of respect. Not many wizards, never mind muggles could do that on their first introduction to fire whiskey.

"I think he needs a ribbon and a bell," Gavin decided. "Your friends are quite ingenious, sweetheart."

"Ingenious is not the word I would use for them," Lily muttered.

Just what were they supposed to do with this pig?

Tuesday 8th August 1978

12 Grimmauld Place, 17:00

Regulus was annoyed there was no deny in that. It wasn't helped by the fact that no-one was taking gin seriously. Even his own father! Could he not see what the problem was?

"I am already seventeen, father," Regulus was saying very determinedly. "I am more than ready and capable of carrying out whatever the Dark Lord requires of me."

And more, if necessary. The Dark Lord didn't want simple, mindless drones, after all. Especially when it came to a new Death Eater's first raid.

Which he was not going to be allowed to go on just yet. So, he was in no way a proper Death Eater. Oh, sure, he had the mark (Regulus unconsciously flexed his left arm) but that didn't really mean anything until you had gone on your first raid. And what he did in Hogwarts was not a raid.

If you were still attending school you weren't allowed to go on a raid. It would bring too much attention to the Dark Lord's recruitment and he had a much greater chance of getting his wand snapped as they had to do if he got expelled.

And, sure, there were ways, not particularly legal ways but ways, to get another wand. Fairly easily too if they knew the right people but the shame of getting your wand snapped was just too great.

It was still annoying to be considered too great a risk on a raid simply because he was still in school.

"It does not matter that you are old enough, Regulus," his father said sternly. "If your betters decide you are not yet ready then you aren't ready."

Regulus glared at Orion and resisted the urge to stomp his foot and throw a tantrum. It wasn't fair. Avery and Mulciber got to go through their actual induction into the Dark Lord's ranks so why couldn't he? He was by far the most competent of them all. But no, he had to wait a whole other year. Because he was in school.

He didn't even know why he was arguing about it with his father. It wasn't like Orion would be able to change the Dark Lord's mind on this. Je wasn't in his Inner Circle. He wasn't even a Death Eater. Though, that was more for political reasons than anything, nothing to do with lack of support. No. He wouldn't be able to do anything to change it. And Regulus certainly wasn't going to approach the Dark Lord on the matter. He had seen the punishments given out for impertinent questions. He couldn't help but shudder at the memory. No, he did not want to experience that for himself.

Just one more year. He just had to wait one more year. Then Regulus perked up. Not even one year. It was only nine months until the end of the next school year. That's three months fewer than he had thought.

Okay. Nine months. Nine months.

Monday 14th August 1978

Evans Home, 14:00

"So, you really think you can?" James asked hopefully.

Rosemary, she had asked him to call her Rosemary, smiled warmly at him.

"Of course, I can, it isn't all that difficult. I'm sure you'll be able to pick it up just fine."

"Okay then."

"And I think that it's admirable that you're doing do," she continued. "Not many boys would."

James shrugged. He would do anything to help his friends. And he had always kind of wanted to do this anyway.

Cooking, that's what they were talking about. He was going to be living away from home and he didn't know how to cook. Neither did any of the other Marauders for that matter. For he and Sirius it was because they had House Elves, they never had to cook. It wasn't expected of them. Hell, it wasn't even expected in the girls of their families because, why would you? There were House Elves to do that sort of thing. You wouldn't teach people to polish things, would you? No, of course you wouldn't. So, no one got taught how to cook. James didn't think that his Elves would even let him near any kitchen equipment never mind touch it!

But that wasn't the case in the Evans' home. No, everyone here as encouraged to cook. To make meals. Lily was apparently making most of the meal this evening. It was going to be amazing.

Something his meal was not going to be. It was just soup. Tomato soup, his favourite, but not exactly the most amazing thing. Apparently, soup was good for teaching all sorts of complaints and James definitely wasn't going to complain.

"You're going to be just fine," Rosemary said encouragingly, catching his wary look towards the knives.

They were very shiny and sharp looking.

"If you say so, Mrs Evans."

"It's Rosemary, dear."

"Rosemary. Okay."

"Right," Rosemary said. "First we need this big pot..."

"Hmm," smells good," Lily said as she came in an hour later. "Tomato soup?"

"I helped make it," James said proudly, putting the last of the dishes back into the cupboard.

Cleaning up. Another part of the cooking process. Thankfully made quicker with a little bit of magic.

"I am so spoilt with you all here," Rosemary said, enviously watching the dishes dance back to their places. "And he basically made it himself," she said, turning to her daughter. "I just instructed."

"And showed me how to do everything," James corrected.

"It will be an excellent starter to the dinner," Rosemary said proudly.

Which made him feel really good. He had made soup!

"Dinner that I need to get started," Lily said. "Chicken and mashed potatoes sound good?"

"Sounds perfect, dear. Don't forget a vegetable."

"I did that once."

"There some nice, fresh carrots your father got at the weekend."

"Oh, those would be good."

"I'm sure it will taste amazing," James said with a smile.

There was nothing his girlfriend couldn't do, after all.

And it was amazing. Dinner was so amazing. Delicious. And he told her this multiple times much to her embarrassment. But it tasted so good.

"It's just chicken and potatoes," she said with a red face.

"It's the best I've tasted."

The conversation soon shifted to other things except the food. Pity. James liked complimenting his girlfriend. But 8t was also fun to laugh and joke around with the Evans. Most of them. Petunia. Well, Petunia wasn't exactly nice. Not like the rest if the Evans at all.

"Oh, you know that the Gryffindor Tower is actually the tallest one, don't you?" James was saying to Chryssie.

She was trying to count how many towers there were to Hogwarts for her parents and describe how each of them looked.

Chryssie dropped her spoon and stared at him.

"Excuse me?"

"Aren't they the same size?" Lily asked. "I'm pretty sure they're all the same height except for the Astronomy Tower."

"Not anymore," James said smugly.

NEWTs and that whole palaver with Death Eaters showing up in Hogsmeade had completely put it out of his mind but now he remembered it again and could safely brag about it. Because it was definitely something je could brag about.

Chryssie narrowed her eyes at him 9n a very similar way to Lily. It was kind of weird.

"What did you do?"

"I fixed the tower."

"But there was nothing to fix."

Of course, there was, Gryffindor Pride was a stake.

"Yes, there was."

"I don't believe you," Chryssie said with conviction.

James raised an eyebrow. Did she really think he wouldn't do something like that?

"I'm checking when I get back to school!" She told him.

"Yeah, yeah," James dismissed, secure in the knowledge that she was wrong.

Gryffindor was obviously the best, after all, and deserved to have a taller tower. It was just a simple fact. A simple fact that that he and Sirius made happen. And, involuntarily, Remus too because he gave them a much better sticking spell than the one, they were going to use. It would be up there forever now; James was sure of it.

"What did you do, James Potter?" Chryssie demanded, noticing what was probably the smug look on his face.

"James did something?" Lily asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

He raised his hands up in self-defence.

"Lily, I am appalled that you think that I would ever do something to the fine architecture of Hogwarts."

"I don't think. I know."

Oh, the way the determination went through her voice was fantastic. Wait. No. Bad James. You were in trouble.

"What. Did. You. Do?"

"Why don't you ask your sister? She'll be able to see it quite plainly, after all."

"James."

He gulped. Lily narrowed her eyes.

"We might have stuck a yard stick to the top of the tower," he said so quickly that all of his words ran together.

Lily blinked as she tried to translate it in her head.

"You what."

Friday 18th August

"It doesn't feel right that you're leaving," Mary said, shaking her head.

Marlene snapped her suitcase shut. Just about. It was definitely the textbook definition of bulging but she didn't want to use her trunk. She would just fill it up with useless stuff. Stuff she wouldn't be able to fit in her tiny flat.

And it was tiny. It was all she could afford at the minute and that was with her parents helping her out with a bit of the deposit. Most of the deposit. Hopefully she would be able to get a nicer place when she actually started earning money.

"Aw, come on mum."

Marlene didn't want anyone to turn on the waterworks or anything.

"I'm fine. I'm fine."

She obviously wasn't but Marlene wasn't going to point that out. She might start as well and none of them needed that. Why did she have to be the type to cry when other people cried? It was annoying.

"But you're the baby," Patrick said, appearing at her door "You shouldn't be the one leaving the nest first. So, to speak."

"Well, I am," Marlene said bluntly.

She couldn't help it that none of the rest of them wanted to leave home just yet. Her eldest brothers were working their fair share of the farm so staying at home just made sense for them. Ciaran was working in Belfast so he wouldn't be leaving the country when he moved out. Which je was, it was just that his job didn't know what office be was going to be working in so there was no point in leaving home before that had been sorted out. Teagan wasn't ready to leave home yet despite working for the Ministry in London. All of which left Marlene being the first to move out.

Why did the whole family have to be around just to watch her pack? Oh, she knew that they all wanted to say goodbye and all that. And she got that. She wanted to do that too. But it was weird having them all just hang around, watching her, when she was trying to get stuff done. And none of them were being particularly helpful!

She didn't want to deal with waterworks or all this soppiness. It wasn't like she was going to be in Romania or something. She was in apparating distance. It was really Jo bother getting back and forth. She had already tried. Okay, sure, she had to apparate at the closest point on Northern Ireland to Scotland and then apparate down to London but she had literally just got her Apparition license. Her siblings and parents would be able to do that journey no trouble.

Wednesday 23rd August 1978

Auror Academy, 08:30

"How in Merlin's name are we supposed to get this done in less than nine months?" Sirius demanded in amazement as he scanned down the syllabus he had just been handed.

"You'll get it done," one of the instructors barked - Williams his name night be? "If you want to be an Auror, that is."

That made Sirius stand up straight. "I want to be an Auror."

He just got a scoffing noise in return as the older man moved along the groups of trainees.

But there was still a lot of things on that list. So, so, so many things. Sirius wasn't sure they had cut anything put from the original three-year program at all, from the looks of things.

"Did you see this?" Marlene demanded, waving the piece of parchment as she pushed her way through to them.

"Horrendous, isn't it?" Sirius said.

"How exactly are we supposed to learn all of it? We learnt less in Hogwarts over seven years!"

"I'm sure we'll be fine," James tried to sound encouraging. "Other people have managed it."

"This whole course is new." Sirius told him.

They had literally just been told that after all.

"It's just shortened. Not completely new."

Marlene elbowed him and nodded to one side. "Can you believe it?"

"Believe what? This course?"

"Look!"

Sirius turned to where she was gesturing and saw a familiar blonde head.

"Is that Alice Smith?"

"Miss Priss herself," Marlene nodded.

"I thought you stopped using that nickname?" James asked, looking up from his perusal of the syllabus.

"I did."

To her face, anyway. Mainly because Lily liked her. But she was still prissy by Marlene's standards. How did someone like her even consider becoming an Auror? Wasn't she supposed to be a dutiful wife to Frank or something? Marlene knew that Lily had attended the wedding. It was meant to have been amazing. Bleurgh. Weddings. No thank you. She never wanted to get married.

"Yet you are using it now."

"It just came out," she said defensively.

Sirius shook his head at her. Marlene would never change when it came to some things. Hopefully Alice didn't mind the nickname that much.

"How in Merlin's name did she manage to get in? Think she signed up by mistake or something?"

Alice could feel Marlene, James and Sirius all stare at her. How could she not? It wasn't like they were being subtle about it or anything.

But she wasn't going to respond to them. No, she wasn't. Not even a little bit of acknowledgement. Nothing was going to distract her today. She needed to focus.

Focus to get through the day. She was actually doing this. This was real. She was here.

And also focus to forget the argument that happened with her parents. No, she didn't tell them until after her wedding. Until she was out of their house (Frank's house was her house now. Their house). That didn't stop them blowing up on her. She never knew her mother could shout that loud. Or shout at all. Celia Smith always maintained that a woman never had any need to raise their voice. Unless your daughter was going to become an Auror, apparently.

It had been horrible. Neither of her parents had spoken to her properly since she told them. Though, she did suppose that it wasn't that bad. She wasn't living with them anymore or anything. And Frank was so sweet and supportive.

So, it shouldn't matter. Sure, it shouldn't? Of course, it shouldn't.

But it did. It really did.

Thursday 24th August 1978

Marauder Flat, 18:00

James and Sirius, as usual, came into the flat amicably as one and flung themselves onto the sofa. James groaned loudly and Sirius made a whimpering noise.

"Hard day?" Remus asked, coming out from the kitchen with mugs of tea at the ready.

"So much rubbing," James said with another groan as he stretched. "All uphill. With obstacles."

"Well, you will need to be able to do it, I suppose. Go on, drink up."

They both obediently sat up and sipped at their tea, perking up slightly as they did so. It was weird that tea did that for them. He would need hot chocolate to work up like that.

"At least the instructors weren't flinging curses at us." Sirius said optimistically.

"No, they're doing that tomorrow," James reminded him.

"Damn it."

Remus hid his smile. He knew they loved it really. Even the hard bits or the bits that didn't make much sense now. They really were thriving on this type of training. It was great to see. He just kind of wished he could get something like that for him.

Werewolf and all kind of restricted his options, just a little bit.

Not that je had nay options ready. He still didn't know what he wanted to do. Something to do with Defence? Research? He really didn't know so he didn't know where to go looking. Currently he was working in a bookshop down one of the side streets of Diagon Alley. It was fun. He was surrounded by books all day and the customers were usually nice. But he didn't want to do that forever. Not like Sirius and James and becoming Aurors. Or even Peter and working in the Ministry.

He just didn't know what he would even like to do, never mind actually do.

"Hey, Moony. Do you fancy getting this Indian food I heard about tonight?"

That Jersey Remus out of his somewhat self-pitying thoughts.

"Our toilet won't be able to handle it."

"What's that got to do with it?"