Thursday 3rd April 1981

Godric's Hollow, 14:30

Lily stood in the doorway of the living room and watched the scene in front of her. She definitely was spending a lot of time in doorways these days. It was kind of nice, just to stand there without anyone being aware that you were there. It meant that you weren't expected to be doing something. You could just stand and watch. Which is what she was doing right now. She liked watching. Watching was something she could still do without feeling like she was straining herself.

And she couldn't even just blame the grief for constantly feeling tired and lethargic, although that played a big part in it. There was also her pregnancy. Thankfully the morning sickness had gone away fairly early this time around but now it left a feeling of being constantly achy and exhausted. Not to mention the swollen ankles this time around. Currently Lily only found her slippers to be comfortable.

That all being said, today was a good day. She didn't feel too tired. She also didn't feel quite so sad. There was still this emptiness inside her that she didn't think was ever going to go away but she didn't feel like she was going to burst into tears so she took that as a win. It was the little things, you know?

And speaking of the little things, that's what she was watching, standing in the doorway. Harry was giggling his head off as James let bubbles flow from his wand. Harry clapped his hands in glee and tried to grab them, getting confused when they disappeared and then getting distracted by new ones. It was a favourite game. Of both James and Harry. At least he would sleep through the night tonight. Something that he hadn't done consistently the last few weeks. He must be going through some sort of growth spurt or something. Which made for a very alert and fussy Harry in the middle of the night. And then in the early hours of the morning. It was nights like those that made Lily glad, for a change, they neither of them had work to go to the next day. Which meant that they could at least try and catch up on some rest.

Not that it ever really worked out like that because there was always something to do but at least they tried.

But that wasn't something she wanted to think about right now. No, all she wanted to do was just watch her husband and her son play with bubbles while a Disney film played in the background on the TV. Something that James had just learned to do by himself so he was very proud of that particular skill. Which would explain why 'Sleeping Beauty' was playing in the background.

Yes, it was her favourite film growing up and yes, she had brought it with her when she got married. Of course, she had to introduce James to it. And, it turned out, he loved all the music. To the extent he knew all the lyrics which was both adorable and hilarious because, as much as she loved her husband, he really couldn't carry a tune. Really.

"Hey, Lily!" James greeted, turning around and smiling at her.

She pushed the door open further so she could walk in.

"Hi."

James fumbled for the remote, trying to find the pause button. Lily had to hide a smile as he managed to make the volume go to a blaring volume and then he rewound the tape. The images blurred on the screen. She walked over and took it off him, pausing it with one click.

He gave her a sheepish look they she couldn't help but giggle at. James was getting better at dealing with muggle things - he no longer peered extremely closely at the TV for one - but there were still some things that were beyond him. Like the buttons on a video remote.

"I was thinking," James said conversationally, draping an arm across her shoulders.

She leaned into him and smiled.

"Oh, that's dangerous."

He stuck his tongue at her. "Ha, ha, ever the comedian."

"Of course, that's my job."

James gave an actual snort of laughter at that. Making her shove his shoulder.

"I can be funny!"

"Sure, you can, Lils."

"What we're you thinking about?" She asked, shaking her head.

He gave her a grin and gestured towards the TV.

"I was thinking that maybe we need the costumes out of this."

She stood and stared at him. That had not been what she'd been expecting.

"Yeah!" He said eagerly. "It would be so cool to dress up like that!"

"Lile Sleeping Beauty," Lily said dumbly.

"And Prince Charming."

"Prince Philip."

"Yeah, him."

Lily was still struck speechless and couldn't voice her opinion on the whole thing just yet.

"No, look. Near me out. We have the time, Merlin knows we have the time," James tried to persuade her. "It's something different. It could be fun!"

"And where exactly are we supposed to get these costumes, James?" She asked in exasperation.

"Well, uh, we could make them! Yeah! Make it a whole project!"

"Ha. No."

"Aw, come on!"

"No, James."

"But-"

"Bah!"

That was a third voice being added to the argument. A very squeaky one on comparison. They both spun around only to see Harry use the sofa to pull himself unsteadily to his feet.

"See! Harry agrees with me!" James said. "He had to jump right up to tell us so!"

"James," Lily said slowly, not taking her eyes off Harry. "Harry got to his feet."

Now it was James' turn to be struck speechless. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him forwards.

"Harry's on his feet!" He breathed; eyes wide.

Saturday 5th April 1981

Unknown Location, 14:00

Some days Remus felt like he was actually getting somewhere with these werewolves. There were days that they didn't give him suspicious looks as they gathered together in a cave to protect themselves from a storm. And sometimes one or two even talked to him. Which was nice. Positive human, creature... whatever, interaction and all that. Without interaction with people, you could go a bit crazy so he would take what he could get. Even if it wasn't exactly the most stimulating of conversations. But still, beggars really couldn't be choosers. And some of them were genuinely nice. A bit rough around the edges and mistrustful but nice.

Those kinds of days were the days he actually looked forward to, even though he didn't know when those days would come. They were few and far between, therefore days to be treasured.

It was safe to say that today was not one of those days. He had been snubbed by the person he had tried to strike up a conversation with. The glances other had given him and each other were enough to not make another attempt today. He really didn't feel like getting maimed or any5hing like that. Funnily enough, he really wasn't in the mood. That, and he had enough scars. Three new ones just this last full moon. Ones he was pretty sure were healing funny because they had been on the back of his neck and head. It was kind of hard to heal those by yourself without a mirror. And there was no way anyone else would do it. Very, very few werewolves had more than basic magic training, never mind magical healing.

So today was a day in which he didn't interact with anyone. Which was horrible. He never thought of himself as particularly talkative (not like Sirius, for example) but they didn't mean he didn't talk. And talking was how you kept sane, instead of just bottling it all up inside.

He'd been doing a lot of that, recently. Probably too much of that. It wasn't like he could just write a letter to Dora or any of the Marauders. He couldn't communicate with anyone except in an emergency. And not being able to talk to other werewolves was definitely not an emergency.

Lonely. This work was lonely. That was it. Everyone else when they had a task or a mission from the Order normally had a partner to do the work with. Not him. No, Remus had to go in it alone.

Obviously, he knew why. It wasn't like there were any other werewolves in the Order. And there was no way he was going to let anyone else come with him even if Dumbledore had suggested it. It wouldn't have worked anyway. Werewolves barely trusted their own kind, never mind humans. And then there was the whole thing about soke of these werewolves completely giving into their animal side even when they were human. The only word Remus could think of to describe them was feral. These were the ones who saw no advantage in being human at all. The ones who had been so beaten down and rejected that they simply turned inwards. And they were much, much more dangerous than the average werewolf.

Tuesday 8th April 1981

Ministry of Magic, 09:30

Peter was still in shock over what had happened. They all were, the Marauders. Because it had been something they hadn't been expecting. Something they never thought would have happened.

Seriously? What was the point in killing them? They certainly weren't a threat. No way. Rosemary and Gavin Evans were some of the most gentle and kind people he knew. They weren't a threat to anyone. They weren't even anything special. So why? What was the point?

Well, he kind of did see the point. They were Lily's parents. You-Know-Who really wanted James and Lily for some reason. But he couldn't get to them. Fidelius Charm and all that. (And, yes, Peter did puff up in pride inwardly at that thought). So, he had to think of ways to get to them. And you always went for the easiest option first, right? Which meant muggles. Because, you know, they couldn't do magic.

Which was bad. Because that meant they couldn't defend themselves against magic. And having magic was better. Of course, it was. It made you better. Right? Of course, it did, there was no question about that.

The real question was whether anything should be done about muggles. Right? Right?

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Huh?"

Peter spun around in shock, hand automatically going to his robes for his wand before he remembered where he was. Whoops. That was a bit of an overreaction, wasn't it?

Merton was giving him a concerned look and Peter tried to put on a smile. He didn't think it worked because Merton's worried look just deepened.

After the whole debacle and close shave with Death Eaters (well, more than a close shave, really) Peter had been trying to be good. Trying to keep his nose clean. He didn't ever want to come across Avery or Rosier or any of that lot ever again. They scared him too much.

It had meant that he had kind of distanced himself from the people in the office. He hadn't gone to any of the traditionalist meetings with Merton in ages. Months, actually. Which was a shame because he kind of missed them. They had been fun before things had spiralled out of control and he found himself actually doing those intimidation things to Muggleborns.

Which had been a mistake. Yeah. A mistake. It wasn't supposed to have gotten that far. He wasn't ever doing it again. Nope. No way.

Merton was still looking at him and Peter realised that he hadn't answered. How could he be so stupid?

"Um," he swallowed heavily. "I'm fine. Yeah. I'm fine."

All that did was earn him a sceptical look.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Peter twisted his fingers together. "Just a lot going on, you know?"

And now the other man was just staring at him. Great. Just great.

"Come on," Merton finally said with a smile, clapping him on the back. "Let's go get a drink."

Godric's Hollow, 15:00

"I'm going to need to get checked out," Lily said suddenly.

James recoiled at that, immediately a worried expression appearing on his face.

"What? Are you okay? Are you ill?"

"No, James, I'm not ill," she said gently and then her lips wobbled. "But I am pregnant, remember?"

A big goofy smile spread across his face.

"Yeah, you are."

She rolled her eyes at him and swayed his shoulder fondly.

"Yes, I am. And I need to make sure that I am healthy and so is the baby."

"Oh. Yes. You need to do that."

They fell silent as they tried to figure out what was the safest way of doing this. Ig there even was a safe way. St Mungo's was out of the question completely now, since they were under the Fidelius Charm. And they couldn't just let someone come to the house. That would kind of defeat the purpose of the Charm.

So, what should they do?

"Should we ask Molly Weasley?" James asked, biting his lip. "She does midwife things in a pinch, right?"

"Isn't she pregnant herself?" Lily asked anxiously.

"Molly Weasley always seems to be pregnant," he said with an eye roll.

She swatted his arm. "Be nice!"

"I'm just stating facts? What is this going to be? Her seventh child?"

Friday 11th April 1981

Godric's Hollow, 13:30

"Have you ever talked about it with her?" Sirius asked.

James had brought up with him, while Lily was sleeping, that he was worried about her. Because of her parents and everything what was going on. She wasn't acting like herself, no matter how hard she tried to pretend. And she was pretending. James knew that much.

He thought for a moment, mulling over Sirius' words.

"We did talk about my parents and stuff when they died..." he said hesitantly.

The 'stuff' being about them and how it was all so unfair but he think that counted. But Sirius was shaking his head.

"I meant about how you felt."

"Kind of? I mean... she held me when I cried and supported me but..."

"You didn't exactly talk about it." Sirius finished for him.

"Yeah."

Because, well, he was a guy, wasn't he? And that just wasn't something they did. Right? Right? Oh, he didn't know anymore. It was weird to talk about feelings anyway. How were you even supposed to go about doing it? Did you just randomly bring them up? Ease into them? How were you supposed to do that?

It was difficult to talk about those sorts of feelings in the first place, never mind with someone who still safely had her parents. Not that he'd resented his wife for that, not at all. In fact, he'd been incredibly grateful for the Evans' after his parents' deaths. They didn't try to be his parents or anything like that but they made it clear that they were there for him and that they loved him. He needed that.

"Well, maybe now you should."

James thought for a moment and then let out a pained sigh.

"I don't know if I could," he said softly, refusing to look up at Sirius.

Not that that mattered because Sirius knew James so well that he didn't need to see his face to know what he was thinking.

"It will be good for both of you," Sirius said hesitantly, hoping that James wouldn't take it the wrong way.

There was a long silence.

"I suppose you're right," James finally said.

Saturday 12th April 1981

Order Meeting, 20:30

Alice gave Lily a final hug and a stern admonishment to "take it easy, for Merlin's sake" before leaving her to go home. They had hung back for long enough after the Order Meeting (the only way either family could spend time outside of their respective homes these days) and it was getting late. So late in fact that there wasn't any light in the sky. It was time to go home and mull over the information they'd just been given. You know, the only thing they could do these days because they couldn't do anything else!

"I can't believe that the Potters are having another baby " Frank said, shaking his head in amazement as he fell into step next to her.

"Yeah," she said absentmindedly.

"It would be cool if they got a girl this time. They would be one each."

"Has your mother said anything about us having another baby?" Alice asked suddenly.

Frank blinked at her.

"Not that I know of. Why?"

She made an impatient noise. Really? Not that he knew of?

"What? She hasn't said anything to me?"

"Are you sure? Nothing?" Alice checked.

"Nothing."

"No weird comments about us only having Neville or how he's lonely or anything like that?"

"What? No!"

Frank looked genuinely surprised at that so she supposed that he was being honest. Then she frowned to herself. That didn't mean that his mother hadn't not thought about it. Just that she hadn't mentioned it to Frank. So, what if she did think that they should be having another baby but she wasn't mentioning it yet?

"Are you sure?"

"Alice, where is all this coming from?"

"Nowhere," she said quickly.

Frank gave her a disbelieving look but she didn't want to explain herself. She didn't even know how to go about doing that without sounding crazy and she wasn't crazy. She wasn't.

"Come on, Alice, talk to me."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Obviously, there is because you were talking about something just there."

"No, I wasn't," she said quickly. "I was just asking you a question and you answered me so that's that. Everything's good."

"Everything is... Good?" He said slowly, definitely not believing her.

So, of course, she put on a big smile and nodded.

"Yes, Frank. Everything is good."

Frank looked around and seemed to realise that they weren't exactly in a private place.

"We'll talk about this at home," he promised her.

"There's nothing to talk about," she said, just as he apparated away.

She huffed at the spit where he had disappeared. Great. Just, great. Now what had she done?