Sunday 7th December 1980

Tonks Home, 07:30

"Severus is thinking of doing what?" Dora asked incredulously.

He couldn't even wait until they had served themselves breakfast this morning - which was already late because a certain baby had decided that he was not happy at being set down for any reason and nor did he like sitting in someone's lap. They compromised by both of them leaning against the kitchen counter to eat their breakfast, Remus balancing Teddy on his hip, who was now happily blowing bubbles - his hair flicking between all sorts of colours.

"He's thinking up a way to help werewolves," Remus repeated quietly.

"A potion?"

"That is Severus' strength."

"But a potion? Isn't the werewolf bite a curse?"

Dora looked like she couldn't quite wrap her bead around it. Which was fair. He couldn't really either and he had got the full, rather rambling, explanation from Severus.

"Is that even possible?" She asked in a hushed voice, eyes wide.

Remus shrugged. "Severus seems to think so."

"But if it's possible why haven't some of the great Potions Masters attempted it?"

"Some have," he pointed out. "Well, it was more like attempts to get rid of the curse but still."

"Nothing like what Severus is wanting to try though."

"No."

"But surely it's not that new of an idea?"

He shrugged again. "Maybe not. Severus tried to explain but I couldn't really follow. All I know is what he wants to try."

Dora chewed on her lower lip. She really shouldn't be doing that - it was already dry and chapped and this wouldn't help matters. It actually bled the other day on her, he doubted she wanted that to happen again. He tapped his lip to indicate what she was doing.

"Whoops," she said, checking her lip for blood. "Oh, I'm good."

"Good."

"Anyway," she continued pointedly. "Is this dangerous?"

"I don't think so. Not at this point anyway."

"Not at this point?"

"Well, if it gets to the testing stage..." he explained.

If it ever got to the testing stage. Look, he wanted to believe in his friends and all that but this was just too much. Too far-fetched. He would be supporting Severus and, let's be honest, if anyone was going to research werewolves, he'd rather it be his friends. People without the horrible bias towards people like him. But that didn't mean that Remus thought that Severus was going to be successful. It just wasn't worth getting his hopes up like that. It wasn't.

"It might never get to that stage," he tried to reassure her.

Except she wasn't looking to reassured. Right, it was time for a subject change. No point in dwelling on things that wouldn't ever happen.

"Can we talk about something else?" Remus asked, his stomach twisting as the nervous feeling rose. "I don't like thinking about all the uncertainties around this whole thing."

He really hated not knowing things. Especially when he couldn't research how this was going to turn out. It made him feel a bit crazy.

She gave him a brief kiss and then looked at him sympathetically.

"Sure thing," she agreed easily. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, how's it going with all the other trainees?"

She had talked mainly about all the exhausting spell drills and physical exercise they had to do. The Ministry were seriously trying to give trainees a better grounding now. Almost like before this whole War apparently. Though, he heard that they were still skimping on theory classes in an effort to speed graduation up some. Though it wasn't going to be less than a year ever again. Too many bad outcomes. Remus hadn't realised how lucky James, Sirius, Marlene, Alice and Frank had been until Moody started talking about how many of that class they had lost. It was terrifying.

"Urgh!" She exclaimed. "Jones is honestly the most awful person I've ever met. I don't even know why he wants to be an Auror! He's so prim and proper and he always seems to have a stick up his arse!"

Wednesday 10th December 1980

Auror Office, 11:00

"Hey, Potter!" Dawlish called over, appearing in the entry to his cubicle.

James tried not to groan too loudly - he really couldn't stand the guy, no one could. He was just so whiny. Not to mention boring as hell.

"What, Dawlish?"

Did he sound irritated? He thought he sounded irritated. And he did not need to be brought up in front of Scrimgeour or Moddy for being "antagonistic towards your co-workers" again. Bunch of hypocrites. They were the worst. They just got away with it because of their rank.

"Where's the Longbottoms?"

This time James made absolutely no effort to hide his groan. Seriously? He was still asking that? Everyone had accepted that they'd gone into hiding when they hadn't turned up to work two days ago after a brief investigation. Of course, James knew exactly what happened, as did Moody and Kingsley, but he couldn't very well say that.

"Where are," James corrected with an eye roll, not answering him.

"Huh?"

He sighed. Seriously? Did no one use proper grammar anymore.

"Longbottoms is plural, Dawlish. You don't use 'is' with a plural."

That earned him a confused look and then a snort.

"Whatever. Where are the Longbottoms?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," he sidestepped. "You saw those papers hidden on Frank's desk."

"But you're close to the Longbottoms, aren't you?"

"The Longbottoms and Potters have been Allies for centuries," James replied in a bored tone.

Everyone knew that. Which is probably why he'd been fielding a lot of questions about them. Which were already getting old but whatever. Was it wrong to hope that a case came in? It would be good to just be able to leave right now.

"So, you know where they are."

"Not necessarily."

Dawlish gave him a suspicious look.

"You've been to Longbottom Manor."

"As have many others."

They had been known for their yearly Balls, after all.

"Yeah, but you could go check on them. See if they're there."

"Moody has already tried that," James reminded him. "He got no response. There's no one at the Manor."

Well, that was what it was made to look like anyway, even under the many layers of wards covering them. Of course, Frank and Alice were there - they simply blocked Moody's check in so that Moody could say they weren't there. Constant Vigilance and all that. Who knew who could leglimens you? Though, whoever even tried that with Moody would be someone who was very brave and very stupid.

Dawlish gave him a disbelieving look and opened his mouth to ask what was probably another inane question but thankfully he was interrupted.

"Dawlish! Get your arse in gear and get that paperwork for tracking the Lestranges down!"

Dawlish jumped at the sound of Scrimgeour's voice.

"Right away, sir!"

And thankfully he scurried away. James sighed in relief. Finally. Maybe he could actually get some work done. A familiar chuckling noise came from just outside. James made an annoyed noise.

"You let me go through all that without backup!" He accused his so-called best friend who had taken Dawlish's place in leaning in the cubicle entry.

Sirius didn't appear to be too concerned about this as he smiled lazily at him.

"You were doing such a good job."

"Partners are supposed to have each other's back!"

"Not when it comes to Dawlish."

"Especially when it comes to Dawlish."

"Yeah, no, I'll pass."

James threw a quill at him.

Hog's Head, 20:00

"How's the hidden life treating you?" Sirius joked as Frank and Alice came in.

"We haven't been in hiding for a week," Frank chuckled.

"It just feels like a holiday right now," Alice added.

Which made it feel not real at all. It was literally like they had taken time off work. Not that either of them had ever taken a week off work. No one had been allowed to do such a thing. Certainly not since either of them had started. But still. It didn't feel different yet. It was like they could just go back to work tomorrow and it wouldn't feel weird.

But they weren't going to just walk back into work. Not anytime soon, anyway. They had to stay where they were, safe behind wards. Where, hopefully, no one could get them. They couldn't do anything.

But Alice tried not to think about that and I stead focus on the positives. Like the fact that she and Frank weren't exhausted at the end of every day now. And the fact that they could spend more time with Neville who was getting so big. Since when had he started growing so fast? He was so big now. They had time for all these things they had wanted to do now, didn't they? Like rearrange rooms. Frank could get involved more in the management of Longbottom affairs. They could even plan changes they wanted to make to the garden - Alice had always wanted a big greenhouse to grow cut flowers in.

But they hadn't done any of that. Not yet. It felt like everything was about to go back to normal in the blink of an eye. That they'd get up one morning and head into work like nothing had happened. They had actually almost gone into work the other day. Got dressed and everything. They hadn't even thought about what they'd been doing until they got to the floo! How embarrassing was that?

It was just so easy to forget. It didn't feel like they were doing anything just sitting around the house. It felt like they were waiting for the other shoe to drop. That this was all a joke.

But it wasn't a joke, was it? It was very much real no matter what a positive spin Alice tried to put on it.

She shook her head as Dumbledore drew their attention to them, starting the meeting.

Maybe he would have some news on this when situation.

Friday 12th December 1980

Severus' Flat, 18:30

"Please don't mention the word 'wedding' to me ever again," Severus groaned, flopping himself on his sofa.

Chryssie grinned at him.

"That's going to be letting difficult considering we're getting married and that normally means a wedding."

"We could elope."

Though he wasn't actually serious about that. He still got a shove from his fiancée (his fiancée!) for that.

"Not a chance."

"I was kidding, you know."

Chryssie shook her head. "Don't even joke about that. Mum would literally kill you."

"Before or after we sealed the deal," he joked.

Now, Chryssie didn't look amused by that at all. In fact, she moved away from him.

"I was joking!"

"Well, don't," she said shortly. "It's nothing to joke about."

"Of course, it's not," he quickly assured her.

He didn't want her to think he thought so little about their wedding and, subsequently, their marriage. Because he didn't. He thought quite highly of it, in fact. Very highly. As high as Mount Everest.

She was giving him a doubtful look. There was no need to be any look like that!

"I'm just tired," he apologised. "Between studying and researching and brewing and then James and Sirius dragged ne around for wedding stuff, their worse than a bunch of women, but the way, I'm telling you-"

Bow that got a chuckle put of her. And an eye roll.

"They can't be that bad," she said.

"Oh, they are," Severus said quite seriously, eager to get away from any sort of negative feeling that might still be hanging around. "Sirius and James apparently thrive in this sort of situation. Especially Sirius."

"You know what? I can see that," she said with a thoughtful nod. "He always is quite particular about his appearance."

"Well now he's being particular about mine," Severus grumbled. "It's not funny!" He complained as he saw her bite her lip in an effort to stop herself f4om laughing.

"It kind of is."

"No, it's not! It's torture."

Chryssie laughed for real this time.

"Sorry," she apologised when he gave her a peeved look, wiping the tears from her eyes. "It's just that, would you have ever thought that you'd be going wedding clothes shopping with the Marauders when you were a teenager?"

Okay, maybe that was kind of funny. And odd, now that he thought about it. Okay, it was funny. Severus chuckled.

"I would have told you that you were insane," he told her.

Because insanity would have been the only reason that he would have allowed for such a ridiculous situation. Though, the situation was still ridiculous. Seriously, he had thought that men had it the easiest when it came to clothes for weddings. Apparently not. Not when you had male friends who obsessed over their appearance. Well, one male friend who did so.

"Merlin knows what Sirius is going to be like if he ever gets married."

"Do you think he is?" Chryssie asked interestedly. "Has he said anything to you?"

Severus shook his head. "He hasn't said anything. Anyway, he wouldn't talk to me about something like that."

James was his best friend, after all. He would definitely confide in him over everything else. Severus wasn't too sure he wanted to be in Sirius' confidence anyway. Now that was a scary thought.

"Huh. It would be nice to see him and Marlene get married. They're the only pair who hasn't."

"Remus and Dora haven't either."

"Bah," she scoffed. "They will. Trust me."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Remus is the marrying sort," Chryssie said confidently. "And Dora isn't. But she is for Remus. Just, not yet."

"That makes no sense."

"It makes perfect sense."

If she said so. Severus certainly couldn't understand it. Nor did he really want to, if he was being honest with himself. Emotions were complicated.

"So that just leaves Sirius and Marlene," she was now saying.

"Why the interest in him getting married?" Severus asked, she hadn't been overly interested in it before.

"I just want everyone to be happy," Chryssie said with a content sigh, looking at her engagement ring. "Like us."

"And you think he and Marlene aren't happy?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. They seem to be."

"Then surely it doesn't matter if they get married or not."

That earned him an eye roll.

"You just don't get it."

"That's what Sirius kept saying to me every time I complained about shirts," Severus joked.

"There's no way he was that bad."

"No. He's worse."

"Severus!"

"What?"

"He's your friend!"

"Who spent the better part of a day telling me what shirts I should and shouldn't wear! Shirts! Don't even talk to me about trousers. I'm just surprised that he didn't start talking about my vest and pants after that! I wouldn't put it past him!"

"Severus!" Chryssie said in an outraged tone, though she was giggling.

"I should set him on you," he threatened. "See what hoops he makes you jump through for dresses and robes."

"Oh, no need," she said quickly with a laugh. "I already have mum and Lily for that."

Before he could tell her that there was no way that they could be as bad as James Potter and Sirius Black, a massive yawn basically split his face in two.

"Sorry," he said and then another yawn overtook him. "I'm very tired."

"I can see that. Are you okay?" She asked worriedly, reaching over to put a hand on his forehead.

He batted her away. "I'm fine. I'm not sick. Just tired. Been working a lot. Brewing a lot."

And he meant a lot. The Potions never ended. And sure, he liked brewing but by Merlin, he'd never envisioned himself brewing quite this much before.

"I thought you were going to take it easier on the brewing," she said reproachfully.

Which was fair enough. What, after that time he nearly fell asleep over his cauldron, almost fell into it at that. He'd gotten a little bit enthusiastic about his research, okay? He was getting closer; he could almost taste it.

"I am," he quickly assured her. "But there's still a lot to do. Between my Apprenticeship and the Order..."

So many healing Potions for the Order. Which made sense and a lot of them he could brew in his sleep now. But then there were the detection ones. And the analysis ones. Those were more complicated. Took more out of him.

"I'm sure you can tell Dumbledore that you can't make that many," Chryssie said gently. "He wouldn't want you to strain yourself and you know other people can brew as well."

"Not as good as I can."

"What about Lily?"

"She already brews," Severus dismissed. "And I'm not going to ask her to do any more when she had Harry to look after and her Apprenticeship and her Department of Mysteries work to do."

That was more than he ever did. He didn't know how she balanced it all. He was kind of jealous, actually.

"Well, you and Lily can't be the only ones," Chryssie said in exasperation. "Look, I'm basically a Healer now. I can do some of the Healing ones."

"But your focus is spellwork," he reminded her. "Not Potions."

"Doesn't mean I can't brew them! We all had to learn," she spoke of her fellow trainee-Healers. "I just can't do complicated ones."

"I'm fine," he insisted.

This was basically the only work he did for the Order. It felt wrong to try and drop some of it. He didn't want to seem that he couldn't handle it when others were doing so much more for the Order. That would make him look ridiculous and Severus Snape didn't do looking ridiculous.