Wednesday 21st October 1981

Marauder's Flat, 20:00

The sofa dipped next to him and Peter looked over his newspaper in mild irritation. This had been the only quiet moment all day and now someone was interrupting him? Seriously? Oh, it was Sirius.

"Hey." Sirius greeted quietly, looking more solemn than usual.

Which was more than enough to send off warning bells in Peter's head. Because when was Sirius ever solemn? Never, that's when. So, what was making him look like that? Did he suspect? Did he know? No, wait. There was no way he would know. Of course not. He had only told one person. Just one person. And he was definitely not going to be telling Sirius Black of all people. Of course not. The very thought was ridiculous. He almost laughed at the thought but Peter managed to control himself because then Sirius would be all confused and concerned and he really didn't need that. Sirius was already giving him a weird look. Oh, he hadn't answered him. Whoops. Time to divert his attention. Quickly.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

Because something going wrong was a good reason for a solemn look, right? And it was a fair guess, what with the Light side having basically no wins this week. Or the week before. Or the week before that. Yeah, it had been a long month.

Sirius' brow furrowed.

"No? I don't think so? What, has something happened?"

Sirius actually sounded panicked. Peter didn't think he'd ever heard Sirius sound panicked. Something fluttered in his chest, like he felt like he should be panicking as well. He squashed it down because that was just plain silly and he was done being silly, remember?

"Nothing's happened," Peter reassured him.

Nothing he needed to know about anyway. It was weird to be the one doing the reassuring. This wasn't usually his job.

Sirius gave him a distrustful look. Like he was lying to him. Which he wasn't. Not really.

"What did you want to say to me?" Peter prompted.

It was probably a good idea to get this conversation back on track, right?

Sirius frowned at him.

"You sat next to me and looked like you wanted to say something?" He tried, trying to get Sirius to remember.

The faster he remembered the faster Peter could get back to his newspaper. It was funny what the Ministry came out with these days.

"I did but then you asked me what was wrong but why would you think something was wrong?" Sirius asked.

Peter raised an eyebrow.

"You looked all solemn and serious. If course I thought something was wrong. You don't look like that of something good has happened."

That didn't even get him a twitch of the lips. Come on! That had been kind of funny.

But Sirius didn't seem to think so because the expression on his face didn't really change. In fact, it changed to a worried one. Okay, now Peter was feeling a bit worried, his stomach clenching in anticipation. Why didn't Sirius just say what he wanted to say and get it over with? All this waiting and pausing and wondering wasn't doing him any good!

"How are you doing?" Sirius finally asked, giving him this intense sort of look.

Peter furrowed his eye rows together. "What do you mean?"

"How are you really doing?" Sirius corrected himself.

Which still didn't clear anything up by the way.

"I don't know what you're asking. I'm fine."

Sirius sighed heavily. What? He should be the one sighing in exasperation because Sirius was the one not making any sense! And he was looking scarily serious so Peter had even more reasons to be confused!

"You know you don't need to pretend around any of us, right?"

Okay, who was this and what has he done with Sirius Black? Sirius never acted like this. He was never the one who was worried about how people felt or wanted to talk about things, that was more Remus' job. Or even James, but James was more of a doer when you came to him with your worries or troubles, Remus was the listener. The reassurer. But it definitely wasn't Sirius.

"What do you mean pretend? I'm not pretending anything!"

Oh, how he hated the way his voice got all shrill at the end there. Way to be inconspicuous, Wormtail. Honestly. Sirius didn't look like he believed it for a second and Peter just about managed to stop himself from gulping. Because he didn't need to be interrogated.

Not that he would give anything away or anything. And let's be honest, Sirius wouldn't be asking him the thing that Peter was worried about him asking. But still. He didn't want to be interrogated. He wanted to be reading his newspaper.

"Really?" Sirius asked sceptically. "Because you've been acting a little weird. A bit high strung."

"Well, you know," he shrugged, not knowing how to answer that. "Just, well, everything going on..."

That was a really stupid way to finish that but what else was he supposed to say?

But Sirius was nodding, giving him this sympathetic look. Peter felt all squirmy inside. Why was he being like this? Why was he being so nice? So, understanding? Couldn't he just tease him or something and get it over with? That's what Peter had come to expect. That's what Sirius was supposed to do. What was he doing, doing things that he didn't normally do? Act weirdly? It was... well, it was weird.

"So, yeah," Peter struggled to find words to say that would just make Sirius go away. "Just overthinking things. You know me. I'm being silly. There's just been a lot happening."

Sirius was nodding along. It was like he had entered some alternative world. What in Merlin's name?

Peter swallowed heavily. Was Sirius expecting something else? Something more? For him to pour his heart out to him or something? He didn't want to do that. They didn't do that.

"I'll be fine," he said lamely, trying to say it in a way that said he was done.

"You'll be fine," Sirius said instead. "Seriously, Peter. We're all going to come out of this fine."

Oof. That hot a bit too close to home.

"If you say so," he said quietly, chewing on his lip.

"I do."

He sounded so sure of himself. So certain. How could he be like that?

Sirius finally stood up and patted him on the shoulder.

"Good talk."

Was it? Was it really? Eh, Peter wasn't going to question it. And it did make him feel a bit better, he supposed.

"Yeah, it was."

"Don't forget I'm here for you. We all are. So, of you need to talk-"

"I'll talk," Peter interrupted before he could start going on and on again. "I will. I just don't need to talk right now. I told you, I'm fine."

Sirius still didn't look too convinced at that but he just nodded. Finally, he accepted that he wasn't going to tell him anything. There was nothing to tell him. And he was fine. He hadn't been lying. Not really.

Saturday 24th October 1981

Tonks' House, 18:30

"Sirius has been acting strange," Remus said with a sigh as he shoved a box out of the way.

Why had they enlarged it right in a doorway and not where they wanted it to be? It didn't make any sense.

"Sirius is always acting strange," Dora said breathlessly, stopping to wipe her hand across her brow.

Remus shook his head. "I mean, weirder than usual."

Dora frowned bit he wasn't sure if it was at his comment or it was because she realised just how much work they had left to do. Apparently when you were moving into your first house with you partner and child, there was an awful lot of things to be unpacked. Remus still wasn't sure how they had managed to accumulate all of this. He didn't even recognise some of this stuff. Seriously, where had this walker come from? He didn't think that Teddy had ever used that. And he was now walking, so why did they still have it?

"I don't think that's possible," she tried to joke but he just shook his head.

Now was not the time for jokes. He really was worried be realised as he absentmindedly lofted a small box off its perch and glanced inside. Cutlery. Didn't they already have a drawer full of cutlery? Where were all these things even coming from?

The smile left Dora's face as she realised, he was serious.

"Strange in a bad way?"

She wanted him to confirm it, that he wasn't just joking around. He had to be joking around, didn't he? They couldn't take any more drama and problems these days. They really couldn't. They were just about surviving as it was.

"In what way is he acting strange?"

Remus let out a noisy breath and shook his head.

"I don't know," he said honestly. "I can't put my finger on it. Just that some things not right."

"Like he's about to do something stupid not right or that something has gone terribly wrong sort of not right?"

"I, I don't know," Remus hit his lip. "Both? Neither? Something else entirely? I really don't know."

"Well," Dora shrunk a box with a satisfied look on her face (it was one of the bigger ones that they had just managed to empty), "You might want to figure that out. Because you can normally out a stop to Sirius doing something incredibly stupid."

Remus sighed and rubbed a hand across his forehead. He was starting to get a headache.

"And if it's something has gone terribly wrong?"

"Then you're fucked," Dora said far too cheerfully.

"Thanks," he said sarcastically.

"No problem." He rolled his eyes at her making her cross her arms and roll her eyes right back at him. "You'll figure it out."

"That doesn't help either!"

Wednesday 28th October 1981

Godric's Hollow, 14:00

James was pacing up and down the living room. Actually pacing. Back and forth. Back and forth. And he had been doing it for at least fifteen minutes. Probably more but fifteen minute was the length of time she had been standing here. Just in the doorway, watching him pace. He hadn't even heard her push the door open which was impressive because it creaked. Something they really had to fox but every time they left the living room and noted that they seemed to have to do something else. Like go to the bathroom or sort out a nappy explosion or grab something to eat. Anything except sort the door out.

Not that that was the point right now except to prove that it was a loud, annoying noise that James had just completely ignored. He was completed entranced by, well, whatever had got him pacing.

"Do I need to call St Mungo's?" She asked in amusement but James didn't give any indication that he heard her. "James?"

His eyes briefly flickered to her in recognition before he looked away again, continuing with his pacing. But Lily wasn't having that. Oh, she definitely wasn't.

Looking around for some inspiration on how to get his attention properly (that wasn't a charm that made a ringing noise - didn't want to wake the babies, after all) she saw one of Rylli's squishy bricks on the floor. They were always everywhere, Harry loved to through them and Rylli loved watching him throw them. They were perfect. Picking one up, she threw it at him without any ceremony.

Of course, she was no Chaser so it didn't hit where she wanted it to (her husband's hard head) but it smacking into his chest had the same effect. He properly stopped his pacing and looked at her as he caught the toy before it hit the ground. He gave her a brief amused look before his lips turned downward again.

"I will throw something else at you if you don't start talking," she threatened. "And the closed thing to me is a plastic ring."

"He's hiding something from me." He said finally.

"What? Who?" Lily frowned.

James didn't say anything, instead gesturing at the coffee table. The was a letter there. When had that letter come? Very few people wrote to them, for everyone's safety, so it was normally a big deal when a letter came. It was their little window to the outside world.

"Padfoot. Sorry, I should have called up but you were putting Harry and Rylli down for their nap. There's a letter in there from Marlene to you as well."

That was pretty normal. Although they were under the Fidelius Charm, it was still better for there to be as few owls flying to the house as possible. As a result, they normally got more than one letter in each delivery. Marlene hopefully had some good news. Maybe even a funny story to share. Normally it was about Cassie. Like how most of her letters out were about Harry and Rylli.

"How do you know he's hiding something?" She asked, perching on the edge of the sofa.

"I just do. His letters are written all awkwardly and woodenly like has trying to pretend everything's normal. It's not."

James shook his head and gave the offending letter again.

"May I?" Lily asked, hand hovering over it.

James nodded and she picked it up to read it. Quickly doing that, she came to the same conclusion as him. Sirius was being particularly perky and bright in the letter. Like he was trying to be deliberately silly but it didn't come off as funny, just a bit desperate. Which was worry. If Sirius was acting like this then what was it really like out there? Was the news they were receiving being carefully filtered? Now she understood James' frustration.

"I hate feeling useless," James said tiredly as he flung himself down on the sofa.

It moved back towards the wall from the force he used. There was probably a mark there. All the more reason to redecorate. Actually, maybe they should do that after everything was over. Scuff the place up a bit before doing the decorating. That sounded like a fun way to get out all of the frustrations of the past year or so. She would just have to draw the line at explosions. This house was rather nice, after all.

"You know that's not our fault," she tried to reassure him.

Except it was pretty hard to do so when you didn't believe it yourself. It was hard not being able to do everything when the world outside her was literally falling apart around them. Was it even worth it to be in hiding when things weren't going as they hoped? She refused to think of the War going badly. She couldn't think like that. She just couldn't.

James was just so used to being active, being the one who made decisions and took action. He wasn't the type of person who did well with being told to do nothing. It just made him want to do something even more. Merlin, he had even taken to reorganizing the attic just to have something to do. That's what Lily called desperate. Not that she was complaining because she now had a nice organised attic.

"We've been in here too long," he said, shaking his head before putting it in his hands.

"We have," Lily agreed, suddenly feeling very tired.

How many months was it now? Or should they be measuring it in years now because it had been more than a year.

Tonks' Home, 19:00

As much as he and Dora were joking about it, Remus knew that there was definitely something up with Sirius. There really was. He still didn't know what it was but it definitely wasn't something good. Because nothing good would make Sirius act the way he was acting right now. In fact, it had to be very bad. Something that made Remus' gut twist.

He just had to figure out what was going on. It shouldn't be too hard, he was the smart one, after all.

Thankfully there was an Order Meeting this evening. He would try then.

"You ready?" Dora asked breathlessly as she pulled her jumper on over her head.

He picked up Teddy, he was going to be dropped off at Andromeda and Ted's for the evening, and offered her his arm.

"I'm ready."

Order Meeting, 20:30

"I'm fine, Moony," Sirius said as he walked away from him after an Order Meeting.

"You aren't."

"I am."

"Sirius."

"Moony, I'm fine. Seriously, I am."

He didn't even crack a Sirius joke there which was definitely a sign even if nothing else was.

Remus managed to get in front of him, Sirius had quite the stride on him when it suited him, and made him stop.

"Moony!"

"Except you aren't, are you?" Remus said, ignoring the last outburst.

"I'm not what?"

Remus made an impatient noise. "Oh, don't be obtuse."

"Isn't that like a rectangle or something?"

Oh, he just wanted to shake him so hard that his teeth rattled. Maybe then some sense would get into him and wipe that stupid fake smirk off his face.

"Sirius."

Sirius' face fell and now he was frowning at him like Remus was the one who was acting weirdly.

"What?"

Remus recoiled from how snappish Sirius sounded. What was that about? Well, he knew what that was about. Sirius was trying to make him fed up so that he would leave and not keep asking questions. Which was just too bad for him because Remus was not giving up. Not on Padfoot.

"Padfoot!"

"Just, just go away, Remus. I'm fine."

He tried to push last him again but Remus wasn't allowing it. Thank Merlin for small mercies of being a werewolf. One of them being his build was particularly solid.

"I'm not going anywhere and you are not fine."