Sunday 1st March 1981

Godric's Hollow, 12:00

"James, have you see- what on earth are you doing?"

James looked up from his position on the floor with an extremely guilty look on his face. As well je should because what he was sitting in the middle of was something that should definitely not be there!

"Nothing," he said, trying to sound as innocent as possible but only managing to sound incredibly guilty.

Which he was. Because he had done something very, very, very stupid.

You see, surrounding James on the floor were pieces of wood and who knows how many screws and nails. There were even some tools though Merlin knows where he got those from. Lily didn't even recognise half of them and she doubted that James knew what they did if the state of aforementioned wood was anything to go by.

Lily edged into the room, looking suspiciously at the floor as she did so. She was just in socks so she did not want her foot to be stabbed by something sharp and pointy, thank you very much.

"James."

Her tone of voice made him shove something behind his back. Something that dripped.

"It's nothing."

Yeah, that was pretty hard to believe. She put her hands on her hips and gave him a look.

"What even is all this?"

She gestured around him, unable to figure out what all these pieces were a part of. If they were even originally a part of something.

"You see, I thought that the bookcase would look better over there so I was going to move It and then I realised that it was too heavy so I removed all the books but it was still too heavy," he tried to examine quickly before she could say anything. "Then I remembered that I was a wizard and was about to put a featherlight charm on it to move it."

Lily couldn't help but interrupt him here. "If it had a featherlight charm on it, why is it currently in pieces?"

A lot of pieces, at that. She hadn't even known that there were that many pieces to their bookcase!

"Well," something then thumped behind him and rolled away from him.

It was a paintbrush. One that was covered in paint.

"You were painting?" She asked incredulously, darting forwards to grab it before James could.

Lily scrunched up her nose. Oh, my. That was an awful smell. She held the paintbrush between two fingers as far away from her as her arms would allow.

"Did you have to get the strongest smelling paint the shop had?"

James laughed at her. Actually, laughed at her.

"It's not that bad."

She crossed her arms across her chest. Had he lost his sense of smell or something? It was that bad. He looked doubtfully down at the paintbrush and gave it a deep sniff. Immediately, he started coughing.

"Where did you even get all this paint?" She asked.

They certainly hadn't had this when they moved in. There had to be at least a dozen different colours there.

"We had some of it and Sirius got me the rest."

"Of course."

What other answer should she have expected? If course it was Sirius that aided in the chaos. Actually, Lily was surprised that he wasn't here in the middle of it. Though, she was somewhat glad because she suspected that there would be even more of a mess if that was the case. With just James, the mess seemed to be contained to the floor. Small mercies.

She coughed again and pinched her nose. It really was an awful smell.

"It's making me feel sick," she told him.

"Look, it's probably because I've been in here this whole time with it all. I'll crack open a window and I'm sure it will be fine."

James went to do just that and Lily immediately stood herself next to it, breathing deeply in an attempt to inhale as much fresh air as possible. It wasn't helping. She could still smell paint. James just looked on in amusement. He had no right to find this funny! It was his fault!

"Was your sense of smell this sensitive when you were pregnant with Harry?"

Lily thumped him on the arm.

Thursday 5th March 1981

London, 17:30

Chryssie couldn't help but do a double take at the shop she had just passed. Particularly, the display in the window. She had very much liked what she saw.

You see, it was a wedding shop and like all wedding shops it had a gorgeous display of two wedding dresses and little matching flower dresses. But it was just one of these dresses that had caught her eye.

She stood in front of the window and stared. It was a gorgeous dress. A truly gorgeous one. Nothing too fancy or flouncy, neither of those things were her, after all. But there was nothing simple or unassuming about it either. There was a bit of flare in the skirt so it didn't cling to your body the whole way down your legs. And there was some gorgeous detailing around the neckline and out to the shoulders. It was gorgeous and she loved it. Far more than the poofy, lacy concoctions that seemed to be all in style now. The ones that Alice kept trying to show her. It just wasn't her, even if they were the most popular style right now. What did popularity matter when it came to your wedding dress? Except, maybe if you were doing some high society wedding then maybe it would be important. Maybe. But she wasn't doing something like that so she wanted a dress that she would genuinely like. Which had, until now, been pretty hard. Even if she hadn't really been looking seriously yet.

But maybe she wouldn't have to look that hard. She could actually imagine herself wearing it, was that odd? She wasn't usually good at picturing things, especially when it came to clothes. She usually had to have them on her to determine how she looked in them. But this dress, she could actually picture her wearing it. And it was a pretty good picture.

Or maybe she was just making things up and she'd look ridiculous. She wondered if the shop would let you try the dresses on even if you weren't serious about buying it? She didn't want to try a bunch of dresses on, just that one. Or was this her being silly considering that she and Severus hadn't even set a date for the wedding yet?

Monday 9th March 1981

Godric's Hollow, 19:30

James tried not to grimace as Sirius chattered about what he and Kingsley had got up to over the past few days.

He hadn't seen Sirius in a week and he was wasting it talking about Kingsley? Really?

Though, to be honest, he wasn't sure if he was annoyed at all the talk about Kingsley or jealous about the fact that Sirius could go to work. Being at home was all well and good, who didn't like time off? But nor ally with time off you could go places, go for walks. He couldn't do that and there was only so much you could do inside.

"How much are you missing being in the office?" Sirius asked with a twinkle in his eyes. "I bet you even miss doing paperwork."

James couldn't help but chuckle. "Now, let's not go that far."

Paperwork was definitely not something he missed. And if he did start missing it, he was going to take it as a sign of him going insane.

"I could bring you some home, if you want," Sirius offered with a grin. "Actually, I bet if I asked Moody, he'd think that it was a fantastic idea."

"Don't you dare."

Knowing his luck, Moody would think that that was something that he could do. And that wasn't something he wanted to spend his time doing. Paperwork was bad enough as it was, never mind doing it when you didn't get a chance to be a part of the action! That was just cruel!

"Oh, I don't know," Sirius continued with a glint in his eyes. "I think that paperwork would keep you appropriately busy. It would stop you taking things apart and failing to put them back together."

"Lily told you?"

The bark of laughter from his best friend was completely unwarranted.

"Oh, she told me. Well, she told Marlene. In a very strong worded letter. Which I just happened to read."

"Sure, you did."

Sirius never just 'happened to read' anything. He barely read when he had to.

"Also, did you know that your wife has a particularly foul mouth without using actual swear words?" Sirius continued as if he hadn't heard James. "It's kind of terrifying."

"She is," James agreed with a love-struck sigh.

Sirius shook his head at him in exasperation.

"Also, really? Painting before you even fixed the first thing?"

"It made sense!" James said defensively.

"Sure, it did."

Thursday 12th March 1981

Godric's Hollow, 18:00

"Aren't you the cutest boy!" Chryssie cooed, holding Harry above her head as he chortled away.

He loved this and being 'flown' around the room. Who would have thought that a baby would actually like heights? That's the impression Lily apparently got anyway, even Chryssie had realised that he never got grumpy when he was thrown in the air or 'zoomed' around the house over someone's head. Something James had taken to doing a lot, these days. Claimed it was Quidditch Training. Chryssie still wasn't too sure about the rules of Quidditch but she was pretty sure that training wasn't supposed to look like that. Either way, James and Harry seemed to have a lot of fun doing it, which she supposed was the main thing. It made Harry laugh and it was always a good thing to make Harry laugh. It was the sweetest sound. So, she swung him up in the air again to make him do it. And she was rewarded with a proper belly laugh.

"It's not my fault if he's sick on you again," Lily warned her.

"Oh, he wouldn't do that. Not my favourite nephew."

"Don't say that around Dora."

"Teddy is my favourite fake nephew. That different. So, I can say I have a favourite twice."

Problem solved. Even if Lily rolled her eyes at her.

Saturday 14th March 1981

Godric's Hollow, 11:30

"What are you doing?" Lily asked, leaning against the doorframe.

It seemed like that was all she had been asking recently. It turned out, if James had nothing to do, he'd find something to do. And rarely was that something anything good. There was still the smell of paint in the living room even though James said he couldn't smell it anymore. It didn't matter, she could still smell it.

"Just paperwork for the Potter Estate and everything else that that entails," he said, scrunching up his nose in distaste.

She mirrored that look. Paperwork was never fun. She'd much rather be doing something. Which was ironic considering that doing any sort of Mastery required an awful lot of research and writing essays and reports. But that was different. Sort of.

She was just mote impressed that it was actually something normal this time.

"Is it bad that I forgot that Remus was my Steward?" James asked, rubbing his hand across his forehead.

Remus was James' Steward? Lily frowned in confusion. What was a Steward again? Oh, wait... no, she lost that thought.

"What's a Steward?" She asked tentatively.

"Someone who looks afters all the little details of the Potter Estate, keeps the day-to-day things running," James explained, flicking through some sheets of parchment, a thoughtful look on his face.

"And Remus is this?"

How had she not known this? Though, she supposed she had never asked. There were so many things she still didn't know about being a part of such an old and well-established Wizarding family who was pretty much the equivalent of nobility in the muggle world.

"Yeah," James rubbed his forehead. "I chose him when I was still in school. Its tradition so he could learn from my dad's Steward so he could fulfil the role properly when I became the Head."

Which happened far too soon, in Lily's opinion. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. Fleamont's and Euphemia's death still hit her hard every now and then. They should have been able to get to know Harry.

"We've been a bit distracted in recent months." Lily said diplomatically.

They could be excused for forgetting little things. And was it only months? It felt like a lifetime now. But yes, it really had only been months.

He picked up a piece of parchment and waved it at her. "He's kept up with all the paperwork he's responsible for and organised some of the older stuff!"

Lily couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"That's Remus for you."

"It's kind of scary."

"Did you expect anything less from him?"

"Well, no," he admitted. "Moony's always been scarily good at that sort of thing."

Lily chuckled. "He has, hasn't he?"

"Remind me to thank him properly when he comes back," James said quietly.

When he came back. Because Remus was going to come back in one piece, nothing having happened to him. He was.

Monday 16th March 1981

Ministry of Magic, 09:00

Peter had never felt so jumpy and on edge in his whole life. It was like everything was a possible threat. Everything was about to get him. Oh, sure, he'd always been a little bit skittish, as Sirius liked to tell him, but this was more than just his normal anxiety. No. This was far, far, far worse.

He was the Secret Keeper for James and Lily. He was the one responsible for keeping them safe. When he couldn't even seem to keep himself these days! Honestly! Having a brush with Death Eaters! That wasn't the mark of someone who was safe and trustworthy, was it? Except his friends didn't seem to think so. Though, they hadn't exactly been aware of his slip up. Because that's what it was. A slip up. A little bit of wavering judgement. But he wasn't going to do that anymore. No. Definitely not.

He had enough things on his plate now and he definitely didn't need any more. Or else he'd probably end up jumping out of his skin or something.

It was like everyone around him knew that he was hiding something. Knew he had a secret. The secret. And they were all just watching him. Waiting. For him to break.

He wasn't going to break. He was a Secret Keeper and he was supposed to be strong and reliable. And he was! He was...

And he knew he was just being paranoid and no one was actually doing any of that but that didn't really help matters. The thoughts were still there. They still felt very real. And surely it was better to be on edge than not prepared at all? Though what he had to be prepared for, he didn't know. It wasn't like people knew about the Fidelius Charm or Secret Keepers or the fact that he was one. No one was going to ask about it or interrogate him.

But you couldn't blame him, this was such a big deal! So important! He couldn't ever forget that. It was so important that Dumbledore didn't even know that it was him. He thought it was Sirius, even though he technically wasn't supposed to know- the caster of the Charm and the Secret Keeper couldn't see each other at all. And then James and Lily just hadn't corrected him when he thought it was Sirius. James had wanted Sirius initially, after all. So kt made sense.

And, strangely, Peter didn't feel at all bad about being the second choice. Because even he would have thought that Sirius would be used if anyone had asked him. It was James and Sirius, after all. Kt always had been and always would. No one else really got a look in, let's be honest.

So, yes, he was happy being second choice. Because Sirius was the one who chose him. And James and Lily had agreed! That had to mean something, didn't it? Yeah, it did.

He puffed up with pride at that. See? He was important to them. He meant something. Yeah, he could do this. There was nothing to it.

He was fine. He was going to be fine.