Thursday 18th June 1981

Diagon Alley, 17:30

Peter quickly made his way through Diagon Alley; head down and shoulders hunched over just like pretty much everyone else who were doing their shopping. No one wanted to stand out. Draw attention to themselves. Because both of those things meant that you could find yourself becoming a target and no one wanted that.

And after several years of people acting like that, it was really pretty normal by now. In fact, Peter would think that if people didn't act like that then there was something wrong with them.

Then again, the war would eventually end. Right? Then people would go back to acting like normal. Not scared. Whatever normal was.

It was just, Peter didn't exactly remember a time were there wasn't looming fear. Oh, sure, thing had got worse while he was at Hogwarts but even when Vol- You-Know-Who was growing in power there was this uneasiness everywhere. He remembered that much from going to Diagon Allet with his parents when he was like eight or nine. He also remembered looking longingly at the wands in Ollivanders, wishing he was eleven already.

And then he was eleven and he no longer got dragged to Diagon Alley where you had to rush, rush, rush everywhere. Never stopping in the streets too long, lingering at counters to talk to people instead. It was all quite disagreeable for a small boy. One of the perks of going to Hogwarts, he only had to put up with that sort of thing over the holidays. On that note, he should probably check in with his parents at some point. He hadn't been very good at that since leaving Hogwarts.

He caught a movement out of the corner of his eyes that brought him right out of his reminiscing and immediately he looked over at it. James had teased him about being incredibly obvious when he was trying to watch something but not all of them could have Auror Training!

It was the flitter of a very fancy set of robes. The kind of robes he had only ever seen one person wear but that had to be a mistake, right? Because there was no way that this person would be walking across Diagon Alley over to Knockturn Alley! Peter frowned at the back of the person's head, finding it all hard to believe.

Was that Reginald? It looked like Reginald. Merlin, he hadn't seen that man in ages. Which, of course, he knew was for the best but that didn't stop Peter missing him. They had so much in common, after all. They had been friends. They were friends still. He hoped.

Without thinking, he started to make his way towards him, trying to catch up. What he was going to say, Peter didn't know just yet. But he'd figure that out when he came to it.

Except the problem was that he never came to it. Because, you see, just as he was about to cross the threshold of the rather dodgy Alley, he was yanked backwards with a "Argh!"

"Wormtail!" Sirius greeted, looking very impressive in his scarlet Auror robes.

He looked all official and important and, dare he say it, grown up? It was weird. Sirius being all proper was weird.

"Sirius!" Peter yelped, shaking his arm out of his friend's grasp. "Or is that Auror Black right now?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You know you don't have to call ek by my title unless were in the Ministry."

"Or in the presence of one of your superiors," Peter reminded him.

"Whatever."

Peter rolled his eyes at his attitude. Some things really would never change.

"Why did you yank me?" He decided to change the subject, mainly because he just realised that his arm was still sore.

Sirius had quite the strong grip! Seriously, it felt like he was going to bruise!

"You really don't want to be going in there," Sirius advised. "Knockturn Ally. It's really not somewhere where you should be hanging around."

"We tried to get in all the time when we were in school," Peter said accusingly.

They really did. Of course, they did. When you told teenagers like the Marauders that they couldn't go somewhere, of course that's exactly where they wanted to go! It didn't matter that the adults warned them that dodgy things went on in there, that it was dangerous. That had just made it all the more tantalising for them. Of course, Peter was conveniently forgetting that he had never really wanted to go down to Knockturn Alley when they were younger and had taken the warnings about how dodgy it was seriously. And Janes or Sirius plotting to sneak in (which never worked - even though Sirius had been down there with his parents once or twice he never managed it on his own) always made him feel uneasy.

"Yeah, but we were stopped. For good reason too."

It was here that Sirius gave this little shudder. It was almost imperceptible unless you knew him and Peter liked to think that he knew Sirius quite well. Just what had he seen in Knockturn Alley? Just how bad could things get?

It was times like this where Peter wasn't sure if Sirius was exaggerating or not. He didn't tend to be a bit dramatic, after all. And nothing had happened to him when he'd had to go in.

"What does go on in there?" Peter asked, trying hard to appear and sound nonchalant.

There were always all these rumours around Knockturn Alley but he'd never heard of anything being confirmed. That was weird, wasn't it? The place had been raided so many times and apparently there were all manner of informants in there as well. He knew that much from the Order and what James and Sirius dropped about work. It was kind of exciting, in a way.

He wished his job was that exciting instead of just sitting behind a desk all day, every day. He didn't do anything. Maybe it was time to start looking for a different job. An exciting one but perhaps not a dangerous one. He didn't do well with danger.

Sirius looked over to the entrance and a weird look crossed his face. Peter didn't know what to make of it.

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

Well, now he did. Surely Sirius of all people should know of you said to not go somewhere or say that you don't want to know then you wanted to do the exact opposite. It was just human nature.

Okay, yes, he was aware that he actually had been down there a few times. Though those had been in broad daylight (not that much daylight ever appeared down there for whatever reason - there were always shadows everywhere) but he'd gone in, gone straight to a shop that was close enough to the entrance and gone out again. Merton and Reginald had asked him to do things like that. But he'd never needed to go any further in. Never wanted to. Not really.

Even looking further down that Alley was nerve-wracking. Especially since the way it was laid out meant that you couldn't see down more than a few yards. But it was still interesting. Intriguing was probably the better word.

Of course, he couldn't let Sirius know that he had indeed been in Knockturn Alley. And not accidentally but deliberately. He wouldn't understand. None of the Marauders would understand.

He still didn't understand.

Saturday 20th June 1981

Longbottom Manor, 14:00

It was rather... interesting, this whole making time intentionally to spend together. Frank had honestly thought that he and Alice spent plenty of time together. They were living in the same home, after all. And, more importantly, they were married! Of course, they spent time together. That's what they were supposed to do.

But apparently, they didn't. Because this felt different. Better, but different.

Frank didn't think that he'd ever feel different around Alice. Because surely anything different would have been a bad thing because they had been getting along well. Which they had done until everything decided to start falling apart so obviously, they hadn't been getting along as well as they would have liked.

Before they'd merely been present around each ither. You know, being in the same room. Eating a meal. Reading books or the newspaper. That wasn't the same as spending time together, Frank was slowly discovering.

And, you know what? He liked it. He really liked it. He hadn't known that you could be this comfortable being around a person but apparently you could.

Oh, they still ate meals together and read. But this time it was different. Far different. They read the same book so they could talk about it. Frank no longer read the newspaper at the dinner table. They both actually sat on the floor and let Neville wobble his way between them - which was the most amazing sight ever and would definitely be used to power his Patronus from now on.

They were actually having fun with each ither, that was it. It was amazing how much of a difference that could make. And it wasn't all things that required them to do something, just walking through the greenhouses with Alice showing him her favourite flowers and him tugging her down next to him on the sofa. Those things were fun as well.

That's what they were doing right now, in fact. Just sitting next to each ither in the parlour while Neville napped.

"Do you think something like this is happening to James and Lily. You know, with the..." Alice's voice faltered when it came to actually voicing the problems that were between them.

And Frank didn't exactly blame her, he didn't exactly like saying such things put loud either. It made it a lot more real and he didn't think that he'd be able to handle that right now. Oh, sure, the hanging put and having simple fun together was helping but it wasn't really the root of the problem, was it? Though, neither of them was ready just yet to tackle that.

Would they 3ver be? Frank didn't know. Though, he did hope so. He wanted to fix whatever was going on here. Je wanted things to go back to how they were. No, he shook his head at that thought, je wanted it to be better than what they were before.

"Frank?"

Oh, wait, he hadn't answered her question.

"Oh, uh, I don't know," he replied, frowning.

He hadn't exactly given it much thought. Or any. Lily and James were two different people, after all. Completely different. Which meant that they weren't going to react the same way as him and Alice. He snorted at that. Yeah, they definitely wouldn't. James and Lily were far more fiery-tempered and volatile than he and Alice. Would that work in their favour? Against it? He didn't know. He genuinely didn't know.

Alice sighed heavily at his response.

"Sorry."

She shook her head. "It's fine," she said quietly.

Somehow, Frank really didn't think that things were fine.

Sunday 21st June 1981

Godric's Hollow, 15:30

"Snakes and Ladders or Jenga this time?" Lily asked, head in the cupboard where they kept their games.

There weren't a lot of them but there were enough for them to have their own spot in there.

"I still can't believe there's no actual snakes," James grumbled. "Just pictures. Talk about false advertising."

"Why on earth would there be actual snakes?" Lily asked incredulously.

"Because it says snakes on the box!"

She rolled her eyes at him and he just grinned back.

"So, Jenga then?"

"No, I want to play Snakes and Ladders!"

It was his favourite game, after all. Even if he did complain about it. You would too if you nearly always lost. He swore that there had to be magic involved for him to hit nearly every single snake every time they played. He just hadn't been able to prove it yet. But he would!

"Okay, okay."

The game was soon set up and James had laid claim to the dice. He gave it a good roll, sending it skittering off the kitchen table. Whoops. Five.

"One, two, three" he muttered under his breath as he moved his piece along. "Four, fi- oh, come on!"

Lily giggled at him. He had just missed a ladder. Just missed it! It was literally just one space behind him. How unfair was that?

And, of course, Lily went and got a four which meant she was already three rows ahead of him! Which just made her giggle harder. Hmpf.

The game continued on like that, Lily always a little bit ahead. James thankfully managed to avoid most snakes (unlike the last time they played and he seemed to hit every single one). And then Lily finally met her downfall and landed on the longest snake, nearly bringing her right back to the start. And yes, he did gloat an awful lot at that. So much, in fact, that Lily threw her game piece at him.

He played a few turns with that same smug had look on his face only to learn that pride really does come before a fall. Lily managed to land in the longest ladder and come right up behind him! Such a competitive game of Snakes and Ladders you'd never seen!

Of course, after all that Lily ended up winning and it was her turn to gloat. Yes, they were both terrible gloaters.

"We should have played Jenga," he pouted, crossing his arms.

Tuesday 23rd June 1981

Order Meeting, 21:00

"I'm telling you, Frank, they're great fun," James was telling his friend as everyone milled about before the Order meeting began.

McGonagall was running a bit late and Dumbledore didn't want to start without her. Privately, James thought that McGonagall had probably told him not to start without her and who dared to disobey that woman? Definitely not Dumbledore, he was known for being incredibly intelligent, after all.

Not that James minded, it meant he got to hang around people more and that was something to savour when you were in hiding. Trust him.

He was currently using this extra time to try and persuade Frank of the joys of muggle board games. He wasn't really getting anywhere. Yet. He would wear Frank down. He just knew it. No one could resist for long.

"Nit scrabble, though," he was now advising. "It's the worst."

"You're only saying that because I wouldn't let you use made up words," Lily said with a laugh, coming up behind him and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck.

"They were not made-up words." He pouted but turned so he could press a kiss to her cheek.

He though he saw something flash across Frank's face but it was gone as soon as he noticed it. Had he even noticed it? It could have just been a trick of the light. His imagination. it that it mattered at the moment because Lily was telling everyone he was horrendous at scrabble, which obviously couldn't be allowed.

The two of them were soon bickering about the validity of words, much to Frank's and everyone else's bemusement.

Order Meeting 23:00

"You haven't hung out with him in a while."

Peter jumped at Remus' voice.

"You scared me!" He accused, without answering the question.

"Sorry."

"You don't make any sound when you walk these days," Peter felt like he had to point out.

Because he didn't. He had noticed it before but thought it was a one-off thing. But it wasn't. Because Peter hadn't been distracted at all just there and yet he still hadn't heard Remus approach him. It was kind of freaky.

"Force of habit," Remus said dismissively like it was no big deal. "Had to do it around the werewolves."

Peter couldn't help but splutter a bit at that. Remus never mentioned his time with the werewolves. Not outside making reports anyway.

"Oh."

Peter felt like he really should have said more to that, like he should be getting Remus to open up but he didn't know how to or even where to start. James and Sirius were far better at that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, Remus couldn't be distracted quite so easily.

"How is he, these days?"

"Who?"

"Reginald, your friend."

"Oh, him. Well," Peter stumbled over his words. "He's fine. I mean, I think he is."

Remus gave him an amused look. "You think?" And then he got a grave look on his face. "You have heard from him, haven't you?"

"Oh, yes! I have," Peter said hurriedly.

Because not hearing from someone more than likely meant they were dead these days, unfortunately.

"That is a relief."

"We've both just been busy," Peter said vaguely, praying that he didn't come off as too anxious.

He did not want to be asked about what had made him too busy. Not that there was any risk there, Remus wasn't the sort to pry like that. But there was still a chance that he would.

He let out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding when Remus started talking about something else.