Wednesday 12th December 1979

Dumbledore's Office, 22:00

Severus was currently finding it ridiculous that he spent more time in Dumbledore's office now that he had left school than when he was in school. He had never been in his office when he was in school! Now he had been in it so much that he wasn't even in awe of it anymore. Was that bad? Though he would like to know what some of those silver contraptions did.

No. No distractions. He was here for a reason and it was an important reason. He had finally mustered up the courage to tell Dumbledore that he couldn't do it. He couldn't become a spy. He just couldn't. James was right, he had to be honest with himself and not try and meet expectations that were just beyond him.

"I don't want to risk myself that way," Severus was saying. "It wouldn't make sense. Avery and the like already know that I turned my back on them once, they would-be far more suspicious of me now. It would take me longer to gain any of their trust, if I even managed it at all."

"Which is time we do not have," Dumbledore said solemnly.

Which was very true. Death Eaters definitely had the upper hand despite not overthrowing the Ministry (thank Merlin). Deaths were an everyday occurrence. Threats. Jumping shadows. None of them liked to admit it but that's how the world was right now. No one spent longer than they had to out in public - Severus now brought himself lunch every day instead of using the cafe as a once a week treat. It wasn't worth the risk. It wasn't any way to live but what else could they do?

They were already fighting back as best as they could. Which wasn't much in the grand scheme of things but it was something. His way of fighting back was all the Potions he was brewing for the Order. Healing ones. Antidotes. Soothing ones. It was a lot but he didn't mind. A lot of the brewing was guilt fuelled when he was struggling with the whole not wanting to be a spy thing.

Potions were always useful which meant he would always be useful. And he was never going to turn down the opportunity to brew, even if they were repetitive. Severus had actually found some ways to shorten the process of some potions because he had made them so much and was so familiar with the way their ingredients interacted. Fascinating and useful. And it helped him in his Apprenticeship. His skills were getting better almost to the point that he was going to be allowed to start brewing potions without direct supervision. He would be given a list and expected to complete them. Which was great!

"I completely understand, Severus."

Argh, Dumbledore's voice was so calm and even and yet still Severus felt like he was letting him down or something. Which was ridiculous but here he was.

If he was being completely honest with himself, it wasn't just that he didn't think he could gain anyone's trust (he definitely couldn't if Avery was involved), it was also that he was scared. Scared of what would happen to him of he was found out. Scared of what he could become. He had already nearly been tempted to the Dark side once before. Severus didn't want to ever feel that way again. No. It wasn't worth the risk.

"I can offer my services to anything else," he said, feeling like he had to make up from this.

He had to be useful in some way, didn't he?

Dumbledore stood up and offered him a hand. "I will keep that in mind and make you aware of anything that I think you would be capable of. There might be something to do with the trade of certain Dark objects and their uses that we could use your assistance on."

"I can do that," he said eagerly, shaking his hand.

He could put some of his knowledge to use. For the good, which was always a good thing.

Dumbledore smiled at him, which made him feel a little better. Hopefully that meant there were no hard feelings.

"Perfect. I will call you when I have all the details."

[xxxxxx]

Saturday 15th September 1979

Dress Shop, 09:00

Tonks was trying very, very hard to be civil. For Lily's sake. She had been nice enough to include her in her wedding party, the least she could do was play nice with certain other people.

Or at least not start a fight. That was always a good thing, wasn't it? Yeah. No fighting. From her anyway.

That didn't stop her from watching Marlene, frowning as she laughed. Tonks was pretty sure Marlene did the same when she laughed or smiled but that was beside the point.

The point was that today was supposed to be all about Lily and Tonks refused to be the one to spoil that for her. Even if it meant that she was going to have to wear multiple dresses. Apparently, Lily was trying to knock out getting her wedding dress and all the bridesmaids dresses in one day. Ambitious? Yes. Necessary? Definitely. Because everyone was working and they just didn't know when they were all going to be free. So, when a day came up that they were all free together, they jumped on it.

Hence why she always carefully positioned herself on the opposite end of the room, if possible, from Marlene. Because, you know, unnecessary conflict was unnecessary. Especially in a shop with a lot of white, shiny, slippery material in it.

Of course, she couldn't always avoid Marlene, unfortunately. The fitting room area was pretty small and they did end up shoulder to shoulder a few times. Tonks made sure to get a sharp elbow in or a quick pinch. Little, unnecessary things but they made her feel better.

Marlene, of course, gave as good as she got. Never had Tonks been so poked and slyly shoved before.

Of course, this could only escalate and it did. It was both of them. They both made an indignant noise; a shriek, a complaint. Whatever it was, it got the attention of Lily.

Lily gave them a look and let out an exasperated sigh, grabbing her by the wrist. Tonks was so shocked that she just let herself be dragged across the room. Right over to Marlene. Ow, Lily had some grip on her!

"Neither of you are moving until you talk to each other and make up."

"You can't make us do that."

Lily gave Marlene a look that was, quite frankly, terrifying. And Tonks was incredibly grateful that it wasn't being directed at her. For the moment anyway.

"Oh, I can and I will."

And Tonks could very well believe that. That scary look was now being directed at her and it made her want to run for the hills.

But she had to stay put and now she was facing Marlene.

"Make up," Lily ordered. "Chryssie and Alice and I are going to look at these two dresses and you better have made up by the time I get out of the second one."

Without giving either of them a chance to respond, Lily whirled away into a dressing room.

Leaving the two of them together. Alone. Well, the staff of the shop was giving them dirty looks over by the tills but whatever.

Tonks crossed her arms and glared. Just because she was forced to do this did not mean that she was going to be the first to speak. No, Marlene could do that.

Apparently, Marlene had the same idea because she also wasn't talking. Fine. Whatever. Tonks could live with that. She could stand around all day and not talk. It would be easy.

The seconds ticked by.

Okay, you know what? It wasn't that easy. What was it with silence making you want to talk more? It was weird.

"You suck." She announced.

Hey, just because she wanted to talk didn't mean that she wanted to say something nice.

"No, you suck." Marlene replied immediately.

They both looked at each other and then Tonks couldn't help it. She cracked a smile.

"I do suck, don't I?" She said with a chuckle.

It was pretty sucky to just leave your clothes lying all over the place. She would have never done it at her parents' house so why was she doing it at the flat? Tonks actually wasn't sure.

"You do," Marlene agreed. "But that means so do I."

"Yeah."

There were a few beats of silence before they both laughed kind of awkwardly. Just something to fill the silence so kt wasn't awkward but somehow it made it more awkward.

"I'll keep my socks off the floor," Tonks promised.

That dead foot smell wasn't a pleasant one to have wafting around the apartment anyway.

"And I'll clean my dishes," Marlene replied.

They both looked at each other and then grinned. Proper grins this time, not forced ones.

Tonks couldn't help it; it was kind of funny? Maybe it was just the relief that they were no longer at odds with each other. Either way, it looked like they were good now.

[xxxxxx]

Marauder Flat, 11:00

"Right, you're all going to need matching robes."

Severus jerked his head up and looked at him with a confused look 9n his face.

"You have a dress code for your wedding or something?"

"Well, yeah. For my groomsmen I do," James answered slowly.

That's what tended to be done, right?

"Groomsmen?"

"Yes, James said slowly. "That's what you call the guys in the wedding party, right?"

He looked around to confirm this and Sirius and Remus nodded. Severus ignored this, focusing on one thing he said.

"All of us are groomsmen?"

Him? A part of James Potter's wedding party?

"Yes..."

James was giving him a confused look. Severus didn't know why because he should be the one being confused, not James.

"All of us?" He indicated to himself and then the other Marauders.

"That's what 'all of you' means, the last time I checked."

Severus blinked at him, disbelief overcoming him. James wanted him to be one of his groomsmen?

"Well," James amended. "Sirius is my best man but yes, you, Remus and Peter are my groomsmen, right?"

Remus and Peter nodded vigorously which made Severus nod hesitantly along with them.

Huh. He was a groomsman.

[xxxxxx]

Sunday 16th September 1979

Potter Manor, 14:30

"Uh, James? Slight problem."

Lily winced in sympathy as he took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Yeah, this whole wedding planning thing in a hurry was not going well. Despite their wedding only being small there was still an awful lot to consider. Things that she'd never thought that she'd have to think about. Sure, there was the guests, food, cake, flowers, dresses but then there were flower arrangements (she thought you could just order what you needed), lighting, music. There was just so much and they had so little time to do it in.

Yes, the short time frame was kind of their own fault. But they couldn't wait any longer. They didn't know what was in their futures but they wanted to face it together for however long they might have.

"What's the problem?" James asked.

"Alice allergic to daisies."

"How allergic?"

"Sneezing, red, blotchy face. Everything."

James pulled a face. "Eurgh. That sounds... unpleasant."

"It is," Lily confirmed. "Which means there's no way they can be used in the decorations."

She wasn't sure how she hadn't known of this before, surely there had been daisies at Hogwarts? But anyway, she couldn't do anything about it and Alice certainly couldn't. Apparently, the potions that were used to suppress allergy symptoms didn't work that well on her. Which was just awful.

"Right. Okay. Wait, she's not allergic to any other flowers, is she?"

Lily shook her head. "No, apparently it's just daisies."

"That can happen?"

"Allergies are weird," was all Lily could say by way of an explanation.

She didn't understand why some people had them and some didn't.

"We can have different flowers," James said with a shrug. "That won't be difficult."

"Which ones are associated with Mabon?" Lily asked, tapping her quill to her mouth.

They were actually getting married on Mabon of all dates. Something Euphemia and Fleamont had been excited about. Apparently, it made the ceremony more 'magical' having it on a Shabbat but had refused to elaborate. She and James hadn't even chosen it on purpose, it was just the date both of them could take off. But it was pretty cool how it worked out like that.

"Uhh... Good question?"

Lily groaned. That was just another thing to sort out, wasn't it? Why did she give them more work when they had enough to be getting on with?

[xxxxxx]

12 Grimmauld Place, 20:00

Regulus was currently pouring over a map of London. He was determined that this next raid of his was going to be even better. Better than his last one. Better than anyone else's. Did it really matter? Because it was going to be better and that was the end of that.

Yes, he might be sounding a little bit obsessive but you had to know every detail of things like this. Nothing could go wrong.

Not that anything went wrong the last time but he had to keep that up. And get better. There would be no sloppy work from him. The Dark Lord hated sloppy work. Just ask Avery. He might have stopped stuttering by now. It was his own fault. Yes, it had been a bit scary to watch but it just steeled Regulus' resolve. He was going to be good at this.

He tilted his head and frowned. Okay, that where he wanted it to happen. Now he just had to figure out what 'it' was going to be. Torture? Kidnapping? Getting information? Getting items? There were several people in London which he could do any of these options to. He had his pick.

Maybe he could send a message without loss of life? Fear and terror could be spread without death, couldn't it?

No. Now he was just being stupid. And soft. And you couldn't be either when you were in the service of the Dark Lord.

[xxxxxx]

Monday 17th September 1979

Evans Home, 18:30

"Please, Petunia. Please?"

Chryssie rolled her eyes and tried not to sigh too loudly as she listened to Lily try and persuade Petunia to play a role in her wedding.

It would come to absolutely no one's surprise that Petunia was having none of it.

"No."

"But you're my sister, Petunia. I want you in my wedding. You're important to me."

Petunia made a scoffing noise. "And? I don't want to be a part of your freakish wedding."

"It's not going to be freakish..."

There was a hurt look on Lily's face. Chryssie wondered when Lily would finally realise that Petunia would always think of any of her actions as freakish.

They were both lucky that their parents weren't in. They had no patience for this behaviour of Petunia's which would just lead them forcing her to do something for Lily for her wedding and then no one would be happy.

"Whatever, freak," Petunia sniffed. "Look, I'm a married woman now. I don't have time for this."

Yeah, Petunia was married now. To that Vernon man, of all people but Chryssie had to bite her tongue on that now. It had been a nice wedding. A lovely one. But now Petunia either didn't have time for them (like that was a change) or wanted to rub her new life in their faces. She had bragged endlessly about the Honeymoon Vernon had taken her on. Something Lily wasn't getting because, you know, of the War going on in the Wizarding World!

Honestly, if you asked Chryssie? She would say that Petunia was miffed that Lily was getting married so close to her. She was convinced Lily was trying to one up her or something.

Whatever, Chryssie had no time for this nonsense. She was just here to make sure nothing got out of hand.

"You're still coming, aren't you?"

"I might," Petunia said airily.

Lily's face crumpled and Chryssie felt white hot anger course through her.

[xxxxxx]

Wednesday 19th September 1979

Robe Shop, 17:00

"No. No! I refuse!"

"Come on, Severus, it's my wedding," James said coaxingly as the rest of them tried hard not to laugh. "It's four days away, we need to sort you all out with something."

"That's your problem, not mine!"

Remus had to admit, though, it was hilarious seeing Severus draped in Gryffindor red and gold. The indignantly just made it.

"You are seriously wanting red and gold robes at your wedding?" He asked incredulously. "What does Lily think of this?"

"Ah, well..." James shuffled on his feet.

Remus shook his head. Obviously, James hadn't run this past Lily because there was no way she would agree to something like this. It was just so bright and garish. James couldn't actually think that he would be allowed to choose something like this, did he? Even if it was kind of fun.

"You haven't asked her!" Severus said triumphantly. "Which means you aren't going to actually use them. There's no way Lily would let you!"

James grumbled at being found out so early. Huh. Remus thought that he'd get away with much more than that before Severus realised that James was 9nly poking fun. He really was easy to rile up.

"Can we pick something out?" Peter asked, looking around them.

That made Sirius perk his ears up.

"Oh, rushing out, Wormtail?" He asked. "Hot date?"

"No." Peter blushed.

"He has a hot date," Sirius confirmed.

"I do not!"

Remus was siding with Sirius on this one.

"I'm just meeting some people this evening."

"It's barely lunchtime," James assured him. "We'll be finished we'll before dinner."

"We will of you stop giving us ridiculous options." Severus growled.

"You mean like this one?" James asked innocently, holding out white and gold striped robes. Not piped. Striped.

"No. A thousand times no."

[xxxxxx]

Friday 21st September 1979

Marauder Flat, 19:15

"I mean, we're all always so busy!" Sirius said, biting his lip.

"Severus has his Apprenticeship that he loses himself in, Remus is doing all that weird, shady stuff for the Order that he still won't talk about and Peter is always hanging out with those new friends of his from work. And when you get married, you aren't even going to live here anymore!"

James blinked at his best friend, not knowing what to say. Sirius had just come out with all of this as they were lazing about the flat in one of their, getting rarer, days off. He hadn't been expecting this kind of outburst at all.

But be really should have been expecting it, James supposed. This was Sirius, after all. And it was very close to his and Lily's wedding. Two days! He didn't think he was ready.

"You don't like change, I get it, Padfoot," James tried to say calmly.

It was in an effort to calm Sirius down but it didn't really work.

"Don't like change? This isn't something silly like changing how a room is laid out or something? Everything is still there when you do that! You aren't going to be here anymore!"

And there it was. The real reason why Sirius was getting all worked up. James had suspected that this was the reason but this was all the confirmation he needed.

"Sirius," James said softly, shaking his head at the upset look on his friend's face.

He knew where Sirius was coming from. Or, at least, he understood where Sirius was coming from. Change never meant anything good for Sirius.

"This isn't going to be a bad thing," James reiterated. "I'm marrying the love of my life, yes, but that doesn't mean I stop being friends with you or Remus or Peter or anyone."

"But it's going to be different."

"That can be a good thing. Not all change is bad."

Sirius just muttered something in response and crossed his arms.