Tuesday 25th August 1981

Longbottom Manor, 13:00

Frank was pretty sure that the Manor was getting smaller these days. There was no way that it was the same size it used to be when he was younger. There just wasn't. Definitely not. Because, come on, he had gone around the entirety of the Heir's wing in what had to be record time. And he hadn't even been rushing? What on earth would be rushing to?

Actually, why was he even going around the whole wing? It wasn't like he had to do something. There was nothing to do He must have been in and out of every room over the past couple of days. Not deliberately or anything, that would be a bit sad, but just from wandering about. He did a lot of that these days. Not that there was much of anything else to do, except tag along with Alice when she was in the greenhouses and he didn't want her to feel like he was smothering her.

So, he had to deliberately give her time space or else he would find himself doing just that. Which was why she was currently outside and he inside. Finding nothing better to do than pace. Pace. Pace. Pace. Merlin, how pathetic was he?

Frank jumped as the door swung open.

"Mother?" He asked

He had not been expecting her to be there, that was safe to say.

"Your father and I just wanted to invite you and Alice to dinner," she said, peering around the room. "Where is Alice?"

"In the greenhouses, showing Neville the plants."

Augusta looked vaguely alarmed at this. "I hope he doesn't eat any of the leaves."

"Alice won't let him," Frank assured her. "And yes, we would both love to come to dinner. We haven't had dinner all together in a while."

They tended to keep the two households separate. They may be in separate wings of the same home but they were quite independent of each other. Even when in hiding. They simply couldn't be together all of the time. They would drive each other while."

Augusta nodded. "Indeed. We thought that it would be a nice break in the monotony."

Frank nodded his agreement vigorously.

"A much better way to pass the time than pacing," his mother continued, making Frank's mouth drop open.

How did she know?

[xxxxxx]

Godric's Hollow, 18:00

Lily hadn't realised how much she depended on the ability to go outside to keep her sanity until that option was taken away from her. It wasn't like their front and back garden wasn't very big. Just normal sized but Merlin it was a godsend when they had been around each other all day.

A garden under the Fidelius Charm (another godsend, imagine if they had to stay within the four walls of the house) was seriously a saving grace. If they got too much for each other or just needed some space, they came out here. Lily was kind of glad now that James had been so fussy about what bench to have out here. The amount of time she spent on it; she was incredibly grateful that it was comfortable.

It was just... two children were a lot. A lot more the she ever expected. And maybe it was because they were both under two or maybe it was because of the whole Fidelius thing going on but Lily found herself getting overwhelmed very quickly. Too quickly, if she was being honest with herself. As in, there was no way she should be getting overwhelmed this quickly. It was just plain silly. She wasn't the first woman to have two children under two and she certainly wasn't going to be the last. All this nervousness and anxiousness was just her being dramatic. And Merin knows, the world definitely needed less of that right now.

And it wasn't like she was doing this alone. She had James. The work was split in half. They were a team. Except, she did feel like she had been being much of a team player. There was no way that she was doing enough because if she had been doing enough then she wouldn't feel as rubbish as she did now. She really didn't like feeling like rubbish.

Rubbing her hand across her face, she sighed again. What was she supposed to do? She didn't know what she was supposed to be doing. Or even if what little she was currently doing was even right. How was she supposed to know that?

And James, well, James had been a godsend. Or was that a Merlin-send? Was there an equivalent phrase in the wizarding world? She wasn't sure. But that was beside the point. The point was that she knew that there was absolutely no way that she could have done this alone. There was just no way.

Oh, she knew that plenty of woman managed it by themselves from the get go for various reasons. And then some even lost their partners so they suddenly had to do it alone. And both of those sets of women managed it fine. Lily didn't know how they did it and was in complete awe of them. And jealous. She wanted to know their secrets. Or maybe there were no secrets and she was just rubbish like she mentioned before.

Urgh, she really was starting to go insane, wasn't she? Even her thoughts were circular.

She chewed on her lip and looked around her. The garden was nice, she was glad that James had won that disagreement they had and sent Sirius to a garden shop. He came back with all these half-grown plants which really looked well in the garden, which she appreciated when she just wanted to sit out here and take it all in.

Next year she was going to have to get some seeds and start them off in the spring. It just didn't feel like she had properly gardened if she didn't grow at least some flowers from seed. There was just something... magical about doing that. Even if it was just some sunflowers or sweet pea.

Oh, sunflowers would look great along the fence over there. And sweet pea would definitely have to be planted by the back door here so when they sat outside, they could enjoy their scent. She loved the scent of sweet pea. And James would want Lilies, he always claimed he loved Lilies and waggled his eyebrows at her. He was silly like that. Silly about Lilies. She couldn't help but giggle a little bit at that. Ha, a rhyme. He would probably want amaryllis as well, because of Rylli. That would be cute. Yes, the garden should look even better next year. Maybe they would even add some herbs. She kind of missed fresh parsley. And they would be useful for potions as well. They would have to do a potion and herb garden too. That would be fantastic and Severus would be jealous. Maybe over by the side there?

Lily breathed in the now rapidly going air. It was soon going to be too cold to sit out here. Autumn was inching closer every day yet they were no closer to being free. Actually, they might be even further away from their freedom than when they went under the Fidelius. She sighed. Autumn meant that it would get chilly in the evenings and then cold. Not exactly weather you could sit out it. And don't get her started on warming charms. They only worked on your clothes if you weren't in an enclosed space and even then, it didn't feel right win you were trying to relax outside.

And that's what she was trying to do right now. Relax. Deep breaths and just kept everything go. Even if it was just for five minutes. Five minutes, that's what she was giving herself to wallow a bit, be peaceful and to stop feeling so sorry for herself. That's all she needed.

[xxxxxx]

18:30

James looked out the kitchen window and watched be wife get up from the bench she had been sitting on for the last twenty minutes and walk around the garden.

At least she was moving now. Je bad been getting worried when she had stayed so still for so long. And he knew that there was no point and going to talk to her. She had needed space, which be willingly gave. He didn't even know what to say to her at the moment anyway. Not when she was as upset as she had been.

He shook his head. She was always so hard on herself. Did she not see how great a mother she was? How she knew exactly how to calm Rylli (that's what he had already nicknamed her) down so that she didn't start wailing? Or that she always knew where Harry was at all times when he went wandering and squashed himself somewhere tiny? Or how she always got Rylli to burp just right (something he still struggled with resulting in both he and the baby being frustrated). And there was so much more! Big and little things. So many things. Did she not see any of them?

Apparently not and was completely confused on how to make her see. How in earth where you supposed to do that?

See, this is when you needed Remus and his ability to know how people felt and how they would react to things. Because he couldn't just be blunt like he would like to be. Lily wasn't like that. She didn't like you beating around the Bush but being blunt in this sort of situation just felt wrong to him. There was definitely a gentle way of going about this. He just didn't know what it was.

He ran a hand down his face. See? This was the sort of thing that he was out of his depth with. And he didn't mind admitting that. He could cope. He could figure things out. He just needed a bit of help. No shame in that, right?

But who would he ask for help? Sirius would just tell him to tell Lily how great she was. Which he had already tried and it didn't work - she didn't believe him. Peter would just say that he was already doing a good job and Severus would say to tell her that she was being ridiculous. Yeah, that last one really wasn't an option. He ran a hand down his face and sighed. He definitely missed Remus for things like this.

[xxxxxx]

Thursday 27th August 1981

Somewhere in England, 14:30

Remus staggered backwards at the force of the hit he had just taken. He could feel the blood dripping down his nose and he was grateful that he had managed to stop himself before colliding with the tree behind him. It had a lot of limbs so falling against it would not have been pleasant. His injuries were going to be bad enough as it was. He did not need 'mauled by tree' to be added to those.

Speaking of injuries, his shoulders - actually, his entire upper back - were aching. There was a gash down his side and he was pretty sure that he had sprained his ankle. Which was going to be great to deal with on this uneven terrain.

It was extremely apparent that this set of werewolves was even more disagreeable than the last he had had to deal with. At least the last ones had been fairly apathetic to everything. These ones were just plain aggressive. And he still wasn't sure if they aggressive because she was an outsider or because they were just aggressive anyway. Not that it mattered when they were trying to pick a fight with him.

And yes, they. Three of them had decided that they didn't like him at this particular moment and that they wanted to do something about it. Unfortunately, that something involved their fists. And him. Particularly his upper body and face. Because of course it was his face.

Miraculously, his nose hadn't been hit straight on yet. Yet. Which was something. He kind of liked his nose. Which was a somewhat inane thought as he was literally being beaten. But still, it was a valid thought.

Remus was very quickly learning how to fight physically. Purely out of necessity, not because be liked it. Unlike some people here. He felt like he had to point out that distinction. Even if it was only to himself. He had to keep some of his humanity, after all. Something that was civilised.

So, he managed to get some punches in. And some of those actually hurt if the hissed of pain they caused. Remus felt guilty that he actually felt pride at those pained noises.

[xxxxxx]

The Leaky Cauldron, 19:00

"Have you been talking to Leila recently?" Peter was asked.

He flinched at the name. Merlin, he hadn't thought about her in a while. Weeks. Months, even. Had it really been months? It had. It had been months. Wow, time really was a weird thing these days.

It had literally been months! That was a long time! He couldn't just suddenly start talking to her again! Not someone like her! She'd probably forgotten all about him anyway. What was he to her? Just an unimportant little friend of a friend of hers. She probably didn't even want to hear from him.

Reginald was watching him carefully. A little bit too carefully. At least, Peter thought so. Or maybe he was just being paranoid. Not that he had anything to be paranoid about. No. No, he definitely didn't.

Well, not about Leila anyway. Definitely not about Leila. Why would Peter have anything to do with Leila? In fact, why would she have anything to do with him? She wouldn't. That's what.

"No, I haven't been talking to her," Peter managed to get out.

Reginald tutted lightly at him. "That's a shame. I know she liked you."

"Liked me?"

"Indeed. She thought you were very sweet those times we dined with her."

Which had been a grand total of two, maybe three times. All of which had been overwhelming and more than a little intimidating. And all of them had just been afternoon tea!

"Sweet?"

He didn't know whether he should be flattered on not. No man liked being called sweet, after all. Well, not around other men, anyway. Not that anyone had called him sweet around anyone for that matter. No, wait. Lily called him sweet that one time in third year when he had shared some of his chocolate with her.

"I'm going around for tea at the weekend," Reginald was now telling him, giving him an encouraging look. "You should come."

Peter hummed non-committedly. Wasn't it rude to invite yourself along like that? Well, he supposed that Reginald was technically inviting him. But that wasn't something he could do either when it wasn't his house! How couldn't just turn up. Had Leila asked for him?

Reginald clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, we all need to catch up with each other."

Well, when it was taken out of his hands like that...

[xxxxxx]

Friday 28th August 1981

Somewhere in England, 06:00

Remus buried his face in his hands, his knees drawn up to his chest. He had finally found a spot away from everyone, a spot he didn't think any of them were aware of. He needed this spot. Desperately. Urgently. Whatever. He was here. He had a spot. And that was good. Very good.

He just needed to be alone for a second. Yes, he was trying to gather information and try to sway some werewolves but that didn't mean that he couldn't take a break. So, that's what he was doing. Taking a break. A long break.

No, he couldn't do that. Even if he desperately wanted to. People would get suspicious and for Merlin's sake the last thing that needed to happen right now was for them to be even more suspicious of him. He didn't think his body could take another beating. Actually, he knew it couldn't. He was still sore, still had injuries and mentally he just felt like crap. Which was pretty easy to feel when you had nothing positive to look forward to in the immediate future.

This wasn't going well. It wasn't going well at all. And he didn't know how to make it better. If he could make it better. They were... they just… they weren't responding to him or his entreaties at all. Not even a little bit. There wasn't even a hint of feeling that someone, even just one person, could be swayed. And that fact was extremely depressing. Way to make a man feel useless.

He sighed heavily and buried his face in his knees. This was all a big waste of time, wasn't it? Remus didn't want it to ne but it definitely felt that way. This wasn't doing any good to anyway, least of all the Order. In fact, he might be turning people away from the Light side at this rate.

He felt sick to his stomach. Seriously sick to his stomach. A mixture of not getting good food, getting beaten half to death and then the whole werewolf thing. Not to mention the stress of this whole operation. Yeah, things definitely weren't going well. It was starting to make his head spin.

Actually, the world was starting to spin. Incredibly quickly. Remus leaned forward just in time, retching.

Urgh. He hated the taste of bile coming up.