Monday 2nd October 1978

Auror Academy, 09:00

Yep, it was definitely humiliating walking into a trainee class who you definitely shouldn't be a trainee anymore. Frank felt like every eye was on him even though logically he knew that that probably wasn't the case. Like Williams said, he wasn't the only one repeating a module.

Frank took a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. This was going to be okay. He would get through this. He just had to attend all the classes, study hard and pass all the tests. He could do this. He had an advantage. He had done it before.

Standing up straight, he walked across the room so he could get to the opposite wall. It was a good vantage point, he could see where the instructors were demonstrating, he didn't appear overly eager and he didn't have to interact with anyone. Perfect really. There was no way he could fail the module a second time, right?

With that positive attitude in place, Frank settled himself in for the lecture he had already heard. The first day was always boring. Eh, at least it was something to ease into.

"Hi, Frank!"

And then all the embarrassment came rushing back at the sound of James' voice.

"Hi, James," he replied through gritted teeth, not that James seemed to notice.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. "Are you demonstrating something for us?"

Oh, if only that was the case. But it wasn't and, no matter how tempting it was, he couldn't pretend either. None of the instructors would go along with it (especially not Moody) and he would just end up being more embarrassed.

Oh, why didn't he just find the time beforehand to take James off to the side and explain to him? There would be fewer prying eyes and listening ears.

But he hadn't and now he had to deal with telling James and Sirius and McKinnon from the looks of it (the two of them obviously following close behind James). Thankfully Alice didn't need to be included. Mainly because you sort of had to tell your wife these sorts of things.

Alice had been very sympathetic. Which was both nice and not so nice. Nice because he needed a bit of sympathy when he was feeling sorry for himself but not so nice because, well, he shouldn't even need the sympathy, should he?

"Concealment and Disguise should be really interesting," he hadn't realised that James was still talking to him. "It's be so cool to learn how to hide ourselves in plain sight. Is it hard? Is that why you failed? Do you think I'll fail? Or-"

"You're going to fail if you don't listen to the lecture," Frank interrupted him.

He did not want James to come to the conclusion that he was just too stupid and that was why he failed this module. Call him vain, but he still kind of liked how James still looked up to him even though they were both adults now.

Thank loudly, that did distract James and his friends as they quickly turned around with a look of fear on their faces. Ah, they had already learned that Moody definitely didn't like slackers or worse, those who talked through his lectures.

Speaking of which, Frank straightened himself up, he didn't want to be thought of as a slacker or a talker.

Saturday 7th October 1978

Gryffindor Tower, 13:00

"Take two," Tonks said cheerfully, slipping into the robes that had now officially been designated as her Gryffindor robes.

Eh, she just couldn't be bothered changing the colours back to yellow. They were an old set anyway. From when she was a third year and much smaller. Yes, she used to actually be smaller.

"Yeah, yeah," let's do this," Chryssie grumbled.

For someone who really wanted to know this, she wasn't very happy about almost getting there.

Look, it had taken a little longer than they had expected to get the password to Gryffindor Tower. It turned out, if a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw hung out around the portrait then everyone would eye them suspiciously before shooing them away so they could say the password. A bit rude of them if you asked Tonks but whatever.

She managed to get the password at the end of the day. Morphing into her barely teenager cover, she had simply slipped on the Gryffindor robes and acted very panicked about not knowing the password. Prefects were such nice, helpful people. Really. She wasn't being sarcastic for a change. They had been helpful. They had given her the password and she was very grateful for that.

There was no other way into Gryffindor Tower unless you flew up to the windows on a broom and somehow manages to climb through an open one. Tonks shuddered, not even wanting to think about what would happen to her if she tried to do something like that. Nope. Definitely a bad idea. Getting the password was much better. Much like any idea that did involve her falling from a great height.

"Come on, you can't say that you're not a little excited," Tonks said, giving her friend a nudge.

Chryssie had a bit of a face on her at the moment but surely, she was happy that they were going to figure this out?

"Yeah, I guess," she replied after a good sigh. She then smiled a little, thankfully. "You guess?"

"I'm not celebrating until you're actually inside the Common Room."

"Fair enough."

Though Tonks was pretty sure that they were going to manage it this time. They had the password, after all. What else would you need?

"Well, go on then!" Chryssie said impatiently.

Oh yeah, if you wanted to go through the portrait, you actually had to go up to the portrait. Right. Depending breaths. She could do this. If she couldn't even sneak into another House's Common Room then she shouldn't even think about becoming an Auror, right?

She wasn't sure how that thought process worked but she was pretty sure that it did.

"Do you know the password this time?" The Fat Lady asked as she stood in front of her.

She had a very detailed dress in her portrait, did you know that? There was a lot going on there. Lots of frills and things. Who had the patience to paint such things?

Tonks was pretty sure that the Fat Lady knew that she wasn't a Gryffindor student but she hadn't snitched on her so that was cool. Probably a security risk or something but they weren't her problem.

She took a deep breath before saying. "Favour the Bold."

"Correct," and the whole portrait swung open to show the inside of the Gryffindor Common Room.

Huh. It was really that easy. Tonks looked back at Chryssie who excitedly gave her two thumbs up. Tonks grinned back and scrambled through the portrait hole.

Wow. She blinked. That was a lot of red and gold. It was on the walls; it was on the furniture. Hell, there were even banners everywhere. We're they still celebrating their latest Quidditch win because that had been days ago.

"Hey, out of the way, runt!"

Tonks stumbled and fell on her butt as an older student pushed past her. Rude.

It was Andrew Weasley from her year. The git. She was about to shout back when she remembered at the last minute that she wasn't Seventh Year Tonks. No. She was a nameless younger student. Right. She just had to suck it up. Which sucked.

Also, no one came to help her or tell him off. Which surely wasn't a good thing. Weren't Gryffindors meant to be chivalrous or something? Whatever. She was used to picking herself up.

She dusted her robes down as she got back on her feet. Time to do the thing she broke unto Gryffindor Tower for in the first place. Ha. She broke into Gryffindor Tower!

Right, Tonks. Focus. Focus. No need to get excited. She hadn't actually done anything yet. Nothing important anyway. It was just the first step. The first step.

Right, now where were the boys' dorms? Because she was currently a boy. And she remembered Sirius or Remus telling her something about the girls' stairs when boys tried to go up them. Which she didn't want to happen because she wanted to avoid detection. Something you couldn't do if you were causing a scene. So, which were the boys' ones? Ah. That would be the ones boys were coming down.

That would actually be a cool experiment though. If she was actually a girl but had morphed into a boy would something happen if she walked up the girls' stairs? Tempting but she wasn't going to do it. This time anyway. Though, was there even going to be a next time?

No. Focus, focus. There was a job to do. She had a job to do. Get up near the top of the tower and see what was going on up there.

She made her way across the Common Room, giving nods to people who waved at her, thinking they knew her. It was rather interesting. She had noticed this before; if people felt like they should know or recognise you then they were more likely to accept you even if they couldn't quite place you. Which was rather silly but she wasn't going to complain because it meant that she could do this, after all.

This being going up the steps to the boys' dorms and walking all the way to the top. Huh, the Seventh years were up here. She supposed that made sense.

Looking around, Tonks tried to find a window or an attic door or something that would let her get access to the roof. She saw none of those things. There was no door in the ceiling and no windows. The windows must be in the dorms. Great.

Looking up and down and praying that she didn't look too shifty, Tonks took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the dorms. She would be in and out. That was it. She just needed a good look at the roof. Everyone was at lunch. Or, mostly everyone. No one should be in here.

And no one was. Perfect. Moving quickly, Tonks went over to the window and scrambled onto the windowsill. Pressing her face to the glass she found that she couldn't see the roof. Or even much above the window frame at all. She was going to have to open it.

Which was remarkably easy. Huh. You would have thought that being in the House of the Bold and Idiotic would mean that windows wouldn't open. Huh. Apparently not.

It was a good thing she wasn't afraid of heights, Tonks thought to herself as she stuck her head out the window and looked up. Because she didn't even want to think how high off the ground she was right now.

And there was the roof. And, what was that? She craned her neck. Oh. Oh. Tonks sighed. Chryssie was not going to like this.

And she was right.

"What?" Chryssie demanded.

Tonks, back in her own body and out of the Gryffindor Common Room, shrugged. "It's true. James was right."

The Gryffindor Tower was taller. There was no denying that fact. Maybe it wasn't legitimately taller, the whole reason for it being a yardstick and all but it was technically taller. And that was the whole point, wasn't it? Game over. All done?

No. No, it wasn't.

"I need proof." Chryssie said.

"I saw it." Tonks said in an offended voice. "The yard stick is right there."

Plain as day.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's taller."

"What does it mean then?"

"It means that the tower has a yardstick glued to it."

"I think it's actually a sticking charm, not glue..."

"Whatever. It does mean anything."

"It means that the tower is a yardstick taller," Tonks said unhelpfully.

"Which means nothing."

Tonks was pretty sure that that meant James was right, Gryffindor Tower was taller and that was that. But Chryssie didn't seem to think like that.

"Yeah, but compared to what?"

"Compared to the Ravenclaw Tower?" Tonks tried.

Chryssie shook her head. "Nuh uh. We don't know that."

"But the yardstick-"

"Is a yardstick. It means nothing."

Tonks was seriously starting to consider that her friend had gone completely crazy. Lost the plot.

"We need a camera," Chryssie said decisively as Tonks just groaned. "And some measuring tape."

Thursday 12th October 1978

Longbottom Manor, 21:00

Alice sighed as she lay back in bed. It wasn't a sad sigh or a contemplative sigh. It was a satisfied one. This was definitely a very nice part of being married. Though, the sweaty feeling afterwards wasn't so nice but she would jump into the shower soon. Maybe even with Frank. She blushed at the thought but she was still smiling. Because having a shower together was something that married people could do. And it wasn't always about showering. No one had mentioned that to her before but, then again, her mother hadn't exactly told her a lot about being married except for the bare minimum. And that was only so she would know how to produce an heir. Couldn't give the Longbottom Family an heir without knowing about sex. Which was definitely not something Celia Smith wanted to talk about but she did. With Alice blushing all the while.

But that wasn't the point here. The point was that Alice was feeling very satisfied with her current state of affairs.

She rolled over onto her side to smile at her husband. Her husband. That was still such a lovely thing to think about. And says don't forget say. Alice loved to introduce Frank as her husband.

She hoped he liked to introduce her as her wife just as much and that her mother wasn't right and he found it weird that she worked. He hadn't said anything about it but... no! She wasn't to think like that. She wasn't! Her mother had to get out of her head. She wasn't her mother. She was Alice. Alice Longbottom. A married woman. A married woman to one of the best people in the world.

Okay, sure, maybe married life wasn't exactly how she had imagined. When she was younger, she certainly hadn't expected them to have jobs, never mind stressful and tiring ones like becoming an Auror. Something that meant they weren't together as much as she thought they would be.

But she found that she didn't mind that. She really didn't. This was exciting. This was different. And it wasn't scary. It was actually good. Really good. No matter what her mother said. She didn't have to listen to her anymore. She could do her own thing. And doing her own thing meant she had a job and so did Frank and all sorts of things happened during the day. No matter how disapproving everyone was of it. Even Lady Longbottom didn't really approve of her becoming an Auror but she was supportive which was more than Alice could say about her own mother.

What was it with her and thinking of mothers today? It was weird. And a bit creepy.

"Knut for your thoughts?" Asked Frank.

She jumped slightly, not realising g that he had been awake.

"My thoughts are worth much more than a knut," she sniffed.

"Definitely," Frank agreed. "So, what's up?"

"I was just thinking."

"Oh? Of anything nice? Of me?" He actually waggked his eyebrows at that.

She laughed and gave him a light shove, only for her hand to be met with solid muscle. Oh. Yum.

"Your ego is getting bigger by the day," she chided.

"Yep," he agreed with that silly, goofy grin of his. "Because I have the best wife."

Did she mention that she never realised that Frank could be so cheesy? It was awful how cheese he could be. But she loved it.

She gave him a quick kiss, which he returned quite eagerly. This was definitely the best way to wake up in the morning and go to bed at night to. Alice didn't know how she had ever slept alone.

"So, what were you thinking of?" Frank asked.

"Nothing in particular. Just us. Work. Us working."

"It's weird, isn't it?" Frank said.

"In a good way."

"Yeah," he grinned at her. "Definitely in a good way."

Friday 20th October 1978

Department of Mysteries, Ministry of Magic, 10:30

Lily rubbed at her eyes as she tried to take in the equation in front of her. It was long and complicated and required all her concentration. It was just really hard to do that when you were being stared at by an extremely silent figure on the other side of the table. Seriously, Lily didn't think she had heard him breath.

Him being Froggatt (though she suspected that wasn't his real name), her mentor of sorts as she navigated the whole "becoming an Unspeakable" business.

Unspeakable. Huh. She never ever thought that she would be one. It was one of those things that people were kind of in awe over but never seriously contemplated becoming one. Which had drawn her to it all the more, if she was being honest. Well, that and the fact that it was kind of an "Invitation Only" sort of career. You could apply but she wasn't exactly sure what that process was.

Froggatt coughed pointedly. Right. Her Arithmancy equation. She had to decipher it and determine the spell that was being adjusted from it. It was quite a bit of work. But she could do it. She knew she could.

Well, she could if she wasn't being stared at the whole time! She hates being stared at. Did anyone actually like being stared at? Well, maybe Sirius did but he was an attention whore and proud of it.

She, on the other hand, very much wasn't. But she couldn't say something like that to the Unspeakables. The whole point of him being there was to observe her thought process and problem-solving skills. Eurgh.

Wait. Sen looked closer at the equation in front of her and almost groaned out loud. Seriously? She knew this. All this stressing for something she already knew? Argh. That was annoying. She blamed the unblinking staring. Creepy things like that would definitely throw anyone off their game.

She picked up her quill and started writing.

Monday 25th October 1978

Ministry of Magic, 12:05

Peter sighed as he looked at the clock. It was only five minutes on from when he last looked at it. The day was going by slowly. Again. Just like it always did. Again.

He shook his head and looked back down at the bit of parchment in front of him. Senseless paperwork. Just like it always was. It was so dry and boring that his eyes actually blurred when he tried to read it. But reading that was better than watching the clock. Time went a little but fast. Minuscule but it was something.

You know, he thought being an adult would be fun. That it would be exciting not to have to sit in school all day. That there would always being something interesting going on. That was so far from the truth that the truth was on another planet. Yes, it was that bad.

It was just that he felt like no one really cared in his office. Didn't really care about the work. Didn't care about people. Didn't care about getting to know him. And he had tried, he'll have you know.

No. Being an adult was just hard. Maybe it was just him, James and Sirius always seemed to have something exciting to recount. So did Marlene when she dropped around. Remus always had funny stories about customers and something interesting always happened to Severus and Lily - who knew research could be that interesting?

His job on the other hand? Well, it was boring. Boring. Boring. Boring. Office work. That's all he was doing. He wasn't selling people things. He was training in how to fight and keep people safe and he wasn't researching any big ideas or inventions. No. He was jist filing paperwork and doing all sorts of busy work. None of it was interesting. Hell, none of it was even important. Well, not the stuff he was given anyway.

Yet the job came with big promises. Something he hadn't seem materialise yet. Which, again, sucked.

Maybe it was him and not the job. Was he boring? Uninspiring? He didn't like to think so but no one liked to think that. It didn't stop it from being true. So, was it true? Was he boring?

Finally. It was half twelve. Lunchtime. He thought that it was never going to come. Grabbing his coat je all but ran towards the door. One hour of freedom from this boredom.

That's why he took full advantage of his lunch. He actually left the Ministry completely, opting not to eat in the ca teen or bring his own lunch. No, he needed to get away from these drab walls. Which meant going out of the building and into London. The muggle world, sure, which meant he had to be careful of his wand and all that but it was worth it just to escape for a little bit. And Muggles did make decent food. Well, sandwiches. Because that's all he was confident in getting. People couldn't screw up sandwiches. Anyway, it didn't matter as long as it was food and he was out of the office. For all of an hour but it was something. A delicious something.

Which was normally the best part of his day (sad, he knew). And today should have been no different but it was. Unfortunately, he didn't realise this until he entered the cafe.

"Hey, Pete, how's your day going?" Severus asked, waving him over.

What in Merlin's name was he doing here? He wasn't usually here! Peter knew, he was here every day.

"Severus?" Peter stuttered out in amazement. "What are you doing here?"

Severus looked down at the sandwich on his plate and looked back up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Getting lunch."

"Oh, of course. Yes. It's lunchtime," Peter stuttered out.

"Yeah," Severus agreed, dabbing at his mouth with a napkin. "And you're always talking about this place so I thought I would give it a try. Jigger gave me an hour and a half for my lunch today so I can relax and actually enjoy it."

"It does do good food," Peter agreed.

"Well, get some and join me."

This was different. He was used to being alone for lunch. Which was boring. This wouldn't be boring.

Peter smiled at him.

"I'll be right back."