Monday 25th November 1980

Longbottom Manor, 08:30

"What are we supposed to do about work?" Frank asked suddenly.

Alice looked up from her perusal of the Daily Prophet- not that it reported anything that was shocking anymore or much of anything at all. The "perks" of being an Auror and already knowing what the threat were ahead of time.

"What do you mean?" Alice asked with a frown.

They were about to head into work - their shift started at ten. A bit later than usual but she wasn't complaining. Despite the House Elves being extremely attentive, Neville's cries had kept them up a good bit of last night. It didn't seem right to put a Silencing charms around his room even if the House Elves were the ones looking after him at night. It just didn't seem right. He only settled when he heard Alice's voice. So, she had spent half an hour just talking to him at two o'clock in the morning. What about? She couldn't remember. All she knew that she was not made for disrupted sleep and she had desperately needed coffee this morning. She never thought that she'd be one of those that drank coffee, it having been drummed into her the ladies should never need caffeine to stay etc and attentive, but here she was, enjoying an oversized mug that was just starting to do its job. Only now she was starting to feel like a functional human being. It was not a nice feeling. And she certainly couldn't think properly if she was feeling like this so she was being a bit obtuse with Frank. She couldn't help it!

"I mean, if we're targets for Voldemort, should we really be fighting Death Eaters day in and day out?" He asked. "Wouldn't that make it obvious where we are?"

"A Death Eater could report that we were fighting him and then we'd be in trouble," Alice said in realisation.

All it took was one Death Eater to slip away and send a message. Which was easy when the Auror Department was stretched so thin.

That was something that was getting worse every day, by the way. They had just attended Foxton's funeral last week. Even attendance at that had to be reduced because funeral literally made them sitting targets. They did not want to have another situation like what happened at O'Neil funeral. That had just been messy. And resulted in two more funerals.

"Exactly," Frank said with a heavy sigh.

"So, what do we do?" Alice asked, biting her lip.

Despite the bounds she'd made in growing and improving her confidence - she still found herself looking to Frank to make all the big decisions in their lives. Just like she'd been brought up to do. She knew it was wrong and particularly unfair to him but sometimes she couldn't help it. Sometimes it still felt like she shouldn't be giving her opinion on certain matters at all. And this felt like one of those matters.

She still wanted to work. She enjoyed working, being am Auror and not having to spend her days planning social events - though she did like doing that as well she just didn't like the idea of all her time revolving around that. But she also knew that their jobs were already dangerous and they really shouldn't be putting themselves basically on display like that. But what did Frank think?

"I don't know," Frank said heavily, rubbing a hand across his face. "I mean. We're going to have to go into hiding of some sort. Not go out. Hide our location somehow."

She nodded slowly. There was Jo doubt about that. It would be the only chance they had at being safe, being alive, if Voldemort ever decided to track them down. Yes, she was still holding onto hope that they were really going to be targets, even though she knew it was futile. Dumbledore wouldn't have told them if it wasn't serious.

"And soon," Alice added.

Voldemort wasn't exactly the type of person to wait around once he had a play of attack. And she really didn't want to be attacked by him. Or any sort of Death Eater in their own home. The very idea was horrifying.

"Which means we'll have to leave our jobs. Stop being Aurors," he added unnecessarily.

Stop being an Auror? Alice couldn't imagi3n doing that, what with what she had to go through to even get to this point. The heartache, the arguments, the falling out with her parents. Not to mention the crisis of faith over whether or not it was actually a good thing to do such things. She worked hard to get where she was today. She was a good Auror. Some people even called her one of the best. She didn't want to lose that. Lose a part of her.

"Can we still be Aurors even if we take a break?" Alice asked doubtfully.

"I don't see why not. People take breaks all the time," Frank said, though he felt unsure.

"Women take breaks, you mean," Alice said with a sigh. "Because of pregnancy. And even then, it's hard for them to come back."

"You know that you and Marlene were put through the physical training again to rebuild your strength," he reminded her.

"I know. I know. But have you ever heard of any other reason for people taking a break?"

Frank thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"Maybe if they're ill?" He said doubtfully.

"Do we even have to ask? I mean, does it kind of defeats the purpose of going into hiding if we tell people we're going unto hiding?"

Alice had to admit that just vanishing one day sort of appealed to her. There would be no awkward conversations. There was less of a risk of being fired. And they would be safe. Three for three.

"I'm pretty sure we can as long as we don't tell people where we go," he answered, looking amused. "But it's probably not the best thing to advertise. More of a risk and all that. We don't want people to try and go looking for us."

"We definitely need to tell Moody that we're going into hiding," Alice said. "We don't want them so send out a team of people to go looking for us."

Frank have her an amused look. "Moody is in the Order. I'm pretty sure that he's going to know that we're going into hiding."

"Oh. Yes. Right."

Alice felt rather flustered at that - she had completely forgotten that Auror Moody was the same as their Moody in the Order meetings. And, yes, she knew that it was silly but they were just two completely different situations that she couldn't reconcile the two. Or was it just a sign of her going crazy?

"But if we just vanish isn't that going to cause all sorts of confusion?"

"People vanish all the time, these days."

She sighed at that. That was true. Important people. Normal people. They all vanished. Ran away. Hid. Were captured. Were murdered. It was a daily occurrence. It wasn't even interesting anymore.

"I don't want resources to be wasted on us if they think we've been captured or something," she said, biting her lip.

That would be awful. She'd never forgive herself if someone else wasn't saved because people were unnecessarily looking for them.

"I hadn't thought of that," Frank said with a frown. "We're going to have to figure out a way that shows that we aren't in any trouble."

Alice had no clue how they were supposed to do that except tell people they were going into hiding.

"I can't see why we can't tell people we're going into hiding," she persisted. "It's not like they'll know where we are."

"It will just tempt people to go looking. You know what people are like."

"I know," she sighed. "But can you think of anything else we can do?"

"Do you think James will be doing the same?" Frank wondered out loud.

Evans Home, 14:00

"Why didn't you warn me that there was so much to organising a wedding?" Chryssie complained to Lily, rubbing at her eyes.

She had been staring at a wedding catalogue for far too long, in her opinion. She could see floral arrangements even when her eyes were closed!

And Lily didn't seem to be sympathetic to her plight at all! In fact, she laughed at her and bounced Harry on her knee. He laughed at her as well.

"Lily!"

"What? You were right there with me when James and I were planning our wedding."

"Well, yes..." she did remember that - looking at dresses had been fun. "But you made it look easy."

Lily snorted at that. "I did not. I was overwhelmed."

"Really?"

Chryssie hadn't noticed that at the time. Lily have her a sceptical look.

"Yes. I was. Trust me. Didn't you notice?"

She shook her head. Lily had seemed so organised and in control. She just got things done and that was it. Chryssie felt like she wasn't getting anything done.

"Well, I was," Lily said with a decisive nod. "Horribly so."

"I seriously never noticed."

"I got myself all worked up because I was thinking about the Potters' status and trying to figure out how I looked in comparison to that, a lowly muggleborn," Lily recalled.

"We're anything but lowly!" Chryssie said indignantly.

"I know that," Lily said with a smile. "And James never led me to believe otherwise but between work and planning a wedding I just got so anxious that my thoughts weren't making sense."

Now that was something that Chryssie could understand. Stress did weird things to your ability to think clearly.

"Euphemia finally sat me down and told me that I was being ridiculous. That the wedding was about me and James and no one else mattered. And she was right," she said earnestly. "Chryssie, nothing else matters except you and Severus and don't let anyone make you believe otherwise."

"She was a smart woman," Chryssie said softly, knowing that the subject of James' parents was still a tender one.

"She was," Lily agreed softly, a sad note in her voice and then she perked up. "So, just make sure that you focus on you and Sev."

"We will," Chryssie said resolutely.

"Good."

"There's still a lot of work to do, though."

Lily shrugged at that. "There always is."

Chryssie didn't know whether she should be relieved or worried about that. She chose relieved. All of this was normal wedding stuff.

"Right," she said resolutely. "Let's get to it then."

And with that she pulled the wedding catalogue towards her. Huh. Was that a four-foot wedding cake? Wow.

Formal Wear Shop, Diagon Alley, 15:00

"This is just uncomfortable," Severus grumbled as he tugged at his collar only for his hand to be batted away by James.

"Don't," Sirius scolded. "You'll mess up how it sits."

"You look good," James added.

"He looks like he wants to rip off the collar and burn it," Remus said with a chuckle.

Severus nodded vehemently at that. That sounded like a fantastic idea.

"Well, he's not doing it," Sirius informed him, inspecting the shirt on him and making Severus feel very uncomfortable and then tutting when he found the label at the back of the collar - nearly choking him. "Though, I might just let you considering the price they are asking for this shoddy piece of workmanship."

The shop assistant heard that last remark and gave Sirius a glare. Not that he seemed to care but it made Severus feel awkward. It wasn't like he had an opinion on dress shirts except for the fact that they were uncomfortable!

"Can I take this off now?" Severus grumbled.

He did not like collars. Hated them, actually. Especially horrible, stiff, starchy ones like the one on this, apparently overpriced, shirt. His school shirts had been bad enough but this was a hundred times worse.

"Please," Sirius said with a frown.

Severus darted into the changing room and all but pulled it off him. He never thought he'd be so relieved to put a normal button down on.

"I don't even see the point in doing this now," he said, glaring at the rack of shirts in front of the changing room with their far too stiff collars. "We haven't even set a date for the wedding yet. It's not going to be until late next year at the earliest."

"So, you know what to focus on when the time does come," James advised him. "This way, you can quickly scan through things now and only need to seriously look at a few closer to the time."

That. That was actually a good point. And Severus hated him for it.

"You also can figure out what look you're going to be going for and not be rushed," Sirius added.

Severus hated that that actually made sense. Not that he was going to admit to that, instead folding his arms and glaring.

"It's your fault for not knowing whether you two are going to have a Muggle style wedding or a magical one." Sirius scolded him. "They are completely different in style, giving you more things you have to consider. "

"We're having the binding either way," Severus said.

It was the standard at wedding ceremonies in the wizarding world. It wasn't literally binding them together. Just a symbolic moment of them becoming husband and wife.

"That's all well and good," Sirius dismissed, now turning to look at a rack of shoes that made his feet feel pinched even to look at them. "But until you know, you have to look at suits and robes."

All Severus could do was groan at that.

"And all of the accessories to go with both options," James added, handing a pair of shoes over to Sirius. "What about these ones?"

"No, no, no," Sirius said, shaking his head and putting the pair of shoes in his hand back in the shelf. "These won't do. I know a guy in Diagon who will make you shoes that actually fit you."

"No pinching?" Severus asked hopefully.

"Good shoes never pinch."

Huh. He had thought that that was the whole point of smart shoes. He had certainly never experienced wearing nice looking shoes and being comfortable at the same time. The more you knew.

"How do you even know all this stuff?" Severus asked in exasperation. "You aren't even married!"

"Yes," Sirius agreed and looked him up and down disapprovingly. "But I do know how to dress."

"You go around in grotty t-shirts and leather jackets!"

"I dress for the occasion," he sniffed.

And it was times like this were Severus remembered that Sirius was very much someone who was from the upper classes. Haughty look and all. He sighed heavily.

This wasn't going to be as easy as he thought, was it?

"What about cufflinks?" James asked, calling over from a display behind glass.

No. No, it wasn't.

Tonks' Home, 19:30

"I didn't miss him today," Dora said suddenly, biting her lip.

"Sorry?" Remus asked, snapping his attention back to her.

He had been making faces at Teddy, making him shriek with glee. Which he always loved to hear.

"I didn't miss Teddy today," she repeated, a guilty look on her face.

Remus looked up at her in concern. He knew that she was having a tough time of it, restarting her training at the Auror Academy. It hadn't helped matters that it turned out that her previous, albeit brief, participation in the Academy hadn't counted for anything. Apparently, it was because she had been pregnant and therefore whatever she had gained previously was gone. In the Ministry's opinion anyway. Which sounded frustrating to Remus so who knew what Dora felt like? Especially since she did know her stuff and now this round of training was no longer in the nine month and shove them out into the world category anymore because the Ministry had finally cottoned on that they might have lower Auror Death rates if they were actually properly trained. Granted it was now eighteen months to two years but it was still better than less than a year. Not that Dora saw it that way because now she wouldn't be a "real Auror" for even longer. And he knew that if she hadn't got pregnant, she would have graduated before the new rules came in.

"You didn't miss him?" He asked.

Dora shook her head. "I didn't."

And now there were tears in her eyes so he scooted along the sofa and wrapped an arm around her while using his other arm to keep Teddy steady.

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" He checked.

Teddy was the other reason she had been having a tough time at the Academy. She had felt so guilty for leaving him and for being eager to get her career started. She'd actually sent a Patronus home the first few days, checking up on him.

"No!" She exclaimed, making Teddy whimper. "It's not!"

Remus frowned. "It's not?"

"No!"

"But surely it means that your less distracted," he pointed out. "Which makes your job easier."

She threw her hands up in the air. "And what sort of mother does that make me?"

Remus felt that there wasn't a correct answer to this question. Not one that would make her feel better, anyway.

"A good one?"

She glared at him. Nope. That wasn't the right answer.

"A good mum would never forget that she'd left her child at home without her," she informed him.

Alarmingly, she then burst into tears. Remus hurriedly put Teddy back down in his crib and rushed to comfort her. She sobbed into his shirt.

"Hey, hey," he said, rubbing her back. "You aren't a bad mum. You're not."

She was the best mum, in his opinion, but she wouldn't hear of that right now.

"I am!"

"You really aren't."

"But-"

He shushed her before she could say anything else.

"No." He said firmly. "You are not a bad mum. You love Teddy. You worry about him. They both make you a good mum. And you work. Work hard. While still being a good mum. You're a good person too. And just because you don't think of Teddy every second doesn't make you a bad mum. It doesn't. In fact, surely it makes you a better mum because it's safer, you're focusing on your job. And he doesn't have to be your every thought."

Dora looked up at him, still south tears in her eyes.

"Really?" She whispered.

He held her tighter. "Really. You're a good mum, Nymphadora."

She swatted his chest weakly. "Don't call me that."

"Now, me on the other hand," he said half-seriously.

That got him a harder thump.

"Don't, Remus."