Monday 20th July 1981

Marauder Flat, 20:30

"Going our again, this evening?" Marlene asked as Peter walked past, pulling his robes on. "That's the third time this week."

He shrugged, trying to really react to that statement. Even if it did rankle him a bit. What did it matter to her that he was going out again? It was him, not her. He could go out whenever he wanted. Je didn't have to ask someone or check in with them. He was fine.

"It's a new week."

Because it was a Monday. You know, the start of a new week.

"What's the third time this week?" Sirius asked coming into the loving area.

Marlene nodded towards him.

"Wormtail."

Sirius looked over at him questioningly.

"Yeah, I'm going out." He shrugged.

Was it really the third time this week? Okay that did sound like a little much but how was that a problem?

"Same people?"

"What is this?" Peter asked irritably. "An interrogation?"

"Sorry," she said with a blush. "I just worry. Especially when were all apart."

His face softened. He understood, he really did. There had been an increase in attacks recently, keeping the Auror Office incredibly busy. He had barely seen Marlene and Sirius. But that didn't mean that he was at risk or anything like that. In fact, technically he was in less risk.

"It's with the same people as the other nights," he reassured her.

It was just the work crowd. There was nothing suspicious or shifty about them. And it did look like that reassured Marlene some because she didn't look as worried.

"Oh, that's a good thing. Is it going to be all night?"

Peter sighed heavily. Yep, he was right, this was an interrogation. No, he couldn't get worked up over it, she was trying to be nice.

"I don't know," he let some irritation bleed into his voice. "We're just sitting around and talking. No one's going to set a timer or anything like that."

And if Peter was being honest with himself, he was glad that he wasn't staying in the flat this evening. It wasn't fun being in the Marauder Flat anymore. Especially since there was only two of them living there now with another two people who weren't even Marauders! Could they even call it the Marauder Flat anymore?

Whatever. It wasn't like they really hung out around here anymore anyway. Between everyone being too busy and a whole quarter of them not able to be around anymore, it wasn't the same. It was never the same anymore. Which sucked.

Which was why he was going to do something that didn't suck. Which was meet up with Merton and that crowd, if that wasn't obvious. It should be fun. It was fun. Much more fun than watching over a small toddler.

Ha. Wasn't it a weird that he was then one with the interesting social life? Him?

Thursday 23rd July 1981

Diagon Alley, 10:00

Kingsley sighed as he walked though Diagon Alley. Actually, it wasn't a sigh, it was a huff. It was a huff because he was annoyed.

He had all been chucked out of work not even ten minutes ago, by Moody, of all people! Come on! And over something so stupid too!

No, he wasn't injured or anything like that. Nor had he lost his temper and been told to "cool off", though Sirius had been asked to do that last week. The interrogation of a Death Eater had got a little bit too volatile for anyone's comfort. It had been a bit unnerving to watch Sirius get like that. Kingsley didn't know about anyone else but he had never really thought of Sirius having a temper. James? Definitely, he had spent all of his later years at Hogwarts bickering with Lily, after all. Everyone knew that. And Remus could get all growly. Bit Sirius? He was supposed to be the easy going one. The one that didn't get worked up.

Except he did. In fact, he kind of exploded on the Death Eater. Hence the whole being told to take a walk. And it had worked! Sirius had come back (a good while later) in a much better mood.

But back to him. Like he said, he hadn't been chucked out of work because of inappropriate behaviour. He'd been chucked out because inappropriate dress of all things! To be exact, for being "out of uniform"! He's been in uniform! It was just... a little bit raggedy at the moment. But Moody wouldn't take that as an excuse and told him to get his robes fixed. Now. So, here he was. Trudging through Diagon Alley. Which was weird to do when he wasn't on patrol or anything.

All because of his robes. His stupid robes. They had a tear in them, you see. A rather big one. It wasn't his fault! A Death Eater had caused kt so you would think that the Department would be a little bit more understanding but apparently not. Apparently, your uniform had to be in perfect condition whenever you were in the office. Like, seriously? The gash in his robes had been a fairly discreet one, it just being a straight cut from breast bone to hip so it actually looked like a fold in his robes if he held himself right.

Okay, maybe he had made it worse by fidgeting with it and tugging at loose thread when he was doing paperwork. Hey, it wasn't his fault that it helped him to focus! And yes, there was that Rio in his sleeve as well.

Look, none of them were obvious if he stood still and you didn't look to closely at him.

So now he had to go and get them fixed. Which sucked. He didn't want to go to Madam Malkins but he didn't have a choice, the Auror Department had an account with them so he'd just be awaiting good money if he went elsewhere. Not that somewhere like Twilfit and Tatting would even let him in, knowing them.

Kingsley seriously thought that doing paperwork would be better than going to Madam Malkins. Okay, maybe that was a bit too desperate. Nothing was worse than parchment work. But going to Madam Malkin's was a close second.

And now he was just outside it despite his best efforts to slow down. He dithered on the spot, really not wanting to go in but knowing he technically didn't have a choice.

Okay, he was going in. A man walked past him, giving him an odd look. Right after he went out of sight so he didn't look odd. Which was now. Except he still didn't move.

A woman with two young children shoved past him and into the store, giving him a glare as they did so. Probably because he was blocking the doorway. Whoops. He shuffled out of the way so they could get past. Obviously, they were more urgent than he was. They could go first.

And now he was back to standing outside the door like an idiot. Okay. Deep breath. This wasn't hard and he did need to go back to work. Trying not to think any further, he pushed the door open and walked into the shop.

Okay, that wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. One step down. He could do this. He could do this. Look, also was even at the counter, not dealing with any other customers (one of her sisters seemed to be dealing with that woman with the children). He could just go up to her and ask. Yeah. Except for the small problem of him being rooted to the spot.

Though, that was resolved when once of the children, who was running around the shop, crashed into him making him stumble forwards. Right into the counter, of course. That's always how things worked.

"Hey," he said, not quite sure what to do with his hands (he had this overwhelming urge to fidget with them) so abruptly shoved them into his robe pockets.

"Good afternoon, Sir," Elsie said pleasantly.

Oh, he didn't like that. Since when did Elsie call him sir? It was weird. Kt was wrong. He was Kingsley! Her friend.

Was he still her friend? Admittedly, she hadn't made that very clear when she had shouted at him that time. She had been upset. Super upset. If you could be that. And had wanted nothing to do with him since then. And obviously she didn't want anything to do with him now. So, they weren't friends? Kingsley didn't know how he felt about that. No, he did. He didn't like it and didn't know how to put it into words. Which sucked.

What was he supposed to say to her now? Was he really just another customer? Not her friend? Could be still be friendly? Was he overthinking this? He felt like he was overthinking this.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" She asked through gritted teeth, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Right. Right. He still needed to get things done. Wordlessly, he passed his robes over.

"They've got rips in them," he said quietly.

A spark of interest flashed in her eyes and Kingsley knew that there are lots of questions bubbling behind that mask of hers. Of course, there were. Even if she was acting weirdly now that didn't mean she wasn't Elsie!

But it was gone before it could even fully register. Dammit!

"They should be ready for you tomorrow evening."

He raised an eyebrow. "That quickly?"

"Aurors and Healers get priority," she said stiffly. "If you would excuse me, sir."

And with that, she vanished around the back, leaving him standing there feeling more than a little bit confused.

Saturday 25th July 1981

Godric's Hollow, 16:00

"I want a rematch with Sirius after the next Order Meetings," Lily said determinedly, taking the chess set out. "So, I need to practice."

James looked at her warily, not sure if that was a wise idea considering the way her hormones were at the minute. Yes, a lot about pregnancy hormones were an exaggeration but some were true. Especially the whole pregnancy hormones making her feel every feeling more strongly. She was almost giddy with happiness yesterday when Harry managed to climb up onto the sofa between the two of them and sit up all without falling. Sure, it had been something to be proud of but not to get giddy over.

Also, was it really a good idea to play a game like chess where it was very easy to get frustrated? Not to mention the fact that it could be a long game. Probably not but they were doing it anyway. What was life without a little risk, you know?

Okay, maybe that was the wrong thing to even think when you were currently in hiding with your wife because of the... ahem... risks you both took. But his point still stood. This could be a dangerous game and wasn't there a thing about not getting a pregnant woman's blood pressure up? He was pretty sure that he had read that somewhere...

On the other hand, he did want to play chess against her. It tended to be her and Sirius' thing. Had been since sixth hear ever since that weird night in the common room. The night when he had walked down in the middle of the night to see them not sitting in front of the fire leaning over a chessboard. He still didn't know how that had happened.

"Do you even know how to play?" She teased.

"Of course!" He said indignantly.

Every young pureblood boy was, after all. A way to teach strategy and patience, apparently. Whatever, it hadn't been the most exciting thing he'd learned and he would never be great at it but he personally thought that he was quite good. He'd show Lily.

"If you're sure."

"Oh, that's it. You're on!" He declared, lifting the lid off the box.

Victory was going to be very sweet.

Tuesday 28th July 1981

Longbottom Manor, 13:00

"I still don't understand how you can remember how to look after all these," Frank said with an incredulous laugh.

"It's easy enough," she said with a shrug, nor understanding why he was so amazed.

They were just flowers, after all. And sure, some needed special care but it was all pretty much common sense. And she enjoyed doing it. Because look at how pretty the results were! Flowers were always something her mother didn't mind that she was interested in - he was something appropriately feminine. Though Celia Smith would have preferred if her daughter's hands never got dirty. But you couldn't garden without doing so and it was strangely satisfying.

Oh, speaking of satisfying, there was a dead head. She just had to remove it with a quick snip...

"See? How do you just know how to do that?"

She raised an eyebrow and held up the dead flower head. "Because it was dead?"

He flushed. "Oh yeah. But I've seen you take off actual flowers, no just dead ones."

"That's normally to encourage growth in other areas," she explained and saw the perfect example. "See, like this one..."

She explained to him about how and where you should cut stems and how that was different than just removing the flower heads. Then she wanted to show him those flowers that were just burst out of their buds, they were so pretty. And, of course, she couldn't skip the Bush that was putting on the most amazing display right now. Now that took some specialised care.

Realising that he was just staring at her with this smile on his face, Alice stopped talking, feeling more than a little bit self-conscious. Did he want to say something? Had she just talked over him? That wasn't good, was it? Oh, why had he let her go on like that? It was embarrassing.

"No, no, keep talking," Frank urged, making her look at him in confusion. "I like listening to you talk about flowers.".

She shook her head at them. "Frank, you don't even know what I'm talking about."

"I don't," he agreed readily. "But you do."

More confusion on her end. Yes, she knew what she was talking about, that's why she had been talking. But why was he just listening if he didn't even understand? Surely it was very boring?

"I don't understand?"

"I like listening and watching you talk."

"Watching me talk?" She repeated.

He flushed and shuffled on his feet.

"Yeah."

Friday 31st July 1981

Godric's Hollow, 11:00

Harry had grabbed a hold of the hat in front of him and now was inspecting it very carefully. So carefully, in fact, that Lily had to take it off him so je didn't poke his eye out with it. He pouted and tried to grab it back, upset that his toy had been taken away from him. Lily put an actual toy in front of him which, of course, he wasn't interested in.

"Ha!" He demanded.

"You can't have your hat," she tried to reason with him (though, who could reason with a one-year-old?). "You can wear it!"

And with that, she put it on her own head, accidentally pinging the elastic under her chin. She winced. Why did she do that to herself? That was definitely going to leave a mark. It was amazing how much a tiny piece of elastic could hurt.

But the things you different through when it was your baby's first birthday. And it was fun. Lots of laughter and giggles and not just from the babies present. Yeah, it was a good day. The sort of day everyone needed.

Cassie had somehow managed to put her whole face into her slice and she was basically wearing a chocolate cake crumb mask. Lily couldn't help bit wince in sympathy. That was not going to be fun to wash off.

Harry had decided that since he couldn't have the that he was going to occupy himself by carefully combing icing through his hair with his fingers so that it stood up in sticky spikes. He looked so proud of himself too.

Lily joked that he was taking after Sirius because he had then taken to screaming if anyway even tried to come near his hair, never mind touch it. It was all rather hilarious if you took away the fact that someone was going to have to get the hardened sugar spikes out of his hair at some point. Which wasn't going to be fun.

Neville had decided that he no longer liked being in his highchair and tried to escape. Except you didn't exactly have the best fine motor skills when you were a toddler so all he managed to do was slip down in it. Which he didn't like and began to wail.

And then there was Teddy who was quite happily banging his ate and spoon on any available surface, thoroughly eased with the noise he was making.

Despite all of the chaos, this was exactly the kind of day they all needed.