Friday 29th January 1982

Longbottom Manor, 10:30

She couldn't help but have a spring in a step this fine and wonderful day. She was feeling happy, well, cheerful, happiness was a bit more permanent than that but she was cheerful. And you couldn't help but have a spring in your step when you were cheerful. It was a natural reaction. At least for Chryssie it was. And she was deciding to enjoy doing it today. Because today she was happy and wanted to show it. Even the ice she kept slipping on made her smile. A little bit if stumbling wasn't going to get her down. Not today. Not when she had made up her mind to be happy.

How could she not be? It was a lovely day, there was no rain or frost or anything like that forecasted. She had a good shift, the nine to six one which she hadn't had in weeks and she could actually pretend she was a functioning human being by the end of it. She had woken up in time to have breakfast, albeit just toast and jam bit it had been really good toast and jam. And she had had a brilliant idea. An idea that could be put into practice and she was sure it would make everyone feel better. She had come up with it a while ago but had dismissed it by today it seemed like a really good idea. And she wanted to do it.

Yep, that was it. Her mind was made up. They were going to celebrate birthdays properly this year. They were. Starting with Severus. And it was going to be held on a day all of them could attend. Like the days before they got involved in the War. Or even before everyone got too busy. All of them. Together. That was the best way. They were going to have a nice dinner, wait, no she couldn't cook well enough for a fancy meal. She could do meat, potatoes and veg but a birthday dinner needed a bit more than that. Which she couldn't do. Maybe a nice restaurant? No, she wanted to give everyone the chance of being together and a set time at a restaurant wouldn't do. So, what else was there? Oh! They were going to get Severus' favourite takeout; she could make his favourite cheesecake (she just had to hope that she had enough time to chill the two layers) and there would be presents. Oh, she had to think about what to get him. He didn't like frivolous things. At all. Which was annoying but she could understand.

Everything was going to be happy and positive and that way the rest of the year would follow suit. Well, that was her plan. The world might have different ideas but Chryssie was going to thwart them every chance she got.


17:30

Alice smiled and hummed, pretty much dancing to the dinner table. Frank couldn't help but smile as he watched her. How could he not? She basically excused happiness. Something that had been in short supply recently.

He had been worried about her; you see. She had become very quiet since the new year. Since Christmas really but he had put that down to them still be under protection for yet another holiday. He had felt the same way. Yule just didn't feel right the way they were doing it. It couldn't be helped but that still didn't make it right.

But apparently it wasn't just the holiday that was getting her down because her mood hadn't changed when it was over. If anything, it got worse. They hadn't really talked much. Or at all, he'd just realised. Granted, he had only been able to spend the late evenings with her recently, his father had been letting him take more control over some of the Longbottom Estates. It was tough to get used to and the responsibility was daunting. He stopped working each day feeling exhausted which meant he didn't prompt much conversation. Neither did she. Which wasn't an unpleasant way to spend an evening but it had been every evening, now that he thought about it.

However, it appeared that it wasn't just the holiday that made Alice become melancholy because in the new year it was still really apparent. She seemed to get even worse, in fact. Frank had been really worried.

But now she was happy again which meant Everything was good, right? Another smile was directed him and of course he smiled back. Yeah, everything was good. Things were going to be better now. They just had to be.

What was that tune she was humming? He recognised it but couldn't out his finger on what its name was. It didn't really matter anyway because humming only meant good things.

He looked down at the parts he was holding. There wasn't that many of them. Just some things to review for his father. Maybe He would take a break from his work with the Longbottom Estates today. There was nothing urgent that needed to be done. The Elves could look after Neville and they could have a day just for the two of them. When was the last time they had had that? He couldn't remember. Not a whole day. Their time together before bed in the evenings didn't count.

Everything about their immediate future might still be up in the air but things were definitely starting to look up.

"Hey, Alice?"

"Mm?" She looked at him, eyes free from worry for a change. "Frank?"

"Want to go for a walk?"

Her brows furrowed.

"Don't you have wo-"

"Not today," he cut her off, offering her his arm which she graciously took.

He wasn't going to think about work today.


Sunday 31st January 1982

Severus and Chryssie's Flat, 12:00

"No."

"But Severus!"

"No."

"Just a little-"

"Chryssie, I said no. I don't want to."

Severus sighed heavily and tried not to look at his pouting fiancé. And he knew that's what she was doing without looking because he knew her. She always pouted like that when people didn't agree with her. Which he certainly didn't right now.

"Just a dinner!"

"Don't you think that it's..." and then he stopped and gave her an uncertain look.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Do it think that it's what, Severus?"

Wincing, he continued, "a little bit tactless?"

"Tactless? What do you mean tactless?"

She sounded eerily like Petunia just there though there was no way that he was ever going to point that out. He wasn't stupid.

"I mean, you know..." He trailed off, not knowing what to say without sounding like he was accusing her of something

Which he wasn't. Not really. He just wanted to point out that maybe birthdays weren't the first thing on people's minds these days. Especially when it wasn't even the day of his birthday.

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't know."

"Well, birthdays haven't really been a priority."

"And that's what I want to change. I want them to be a priority again."

Severus shook his head. This wasn't a good idea. He knew that this wasn't a good idea. They couldn't just go back to before everything happened. Before James and Lily went into hiding. Before they joined the war effort. Before they left the safety of Hogwarts. They just couldn't. All of those things had long since passed and they were here now. Things couldn't be the same now. No matter how much any of them wanted it to be. They had to move on. Do new things. Be adults.

"Chryssie..."

He didn't know how he was supposed to tell her all of that without making her feel stupid or sounding condescending.

She turned pleading eyes on him, like she knew what he was going to say.

"Severus. Please. Birthdays."

"Chryssie, why is this suddenly so important to you?" He asked with a frustrated sigh, feeling like they were getting nowhere. "It's been nearly a month since my actual birthday ad you all got me gifts. That was enough. We don't need to anything more."

He understood that birthdays were supposed to be fun and happy and all that. It was meant to be a day you celebrated. Got presents. Yes, fine. Whatever. That he understood, still got a bit confused by how over the top some people were with their birthdays but he understood. And he genuinely loved the gifts he got – they were either Potions related or Defensive Magic related (he may or may not have already read all the books Remus got him) which was fantastic. But he didn't need anything else. It wasn't like they could have done anything on his birthday anyway – between work and his research and no one getting enough sleep these days, well, who was in the mood to go into any effort for anything more than that?

Severus sighed. Maybe it was because he really didn't grow up celebrating his birthday until Lily and Chryssie had figured his out when they were nine or ten but he really didn't understand the urge to make a big deal about them anyway.

"It... it just is, okay?" She spluttered out, crossing her arms.

"Chryssie..."

"I just want things to go back to normal!" She burst out.

He shook his head, knowing that she knew that that wasn't possible.

"Maybe we should be looking at ways to visit with Harry and Rylli," he reminded her. "Not thinking about birthdays."

Ever since that... that night... Hallowe'en, Dumbledore had spirited them away to safety. None of them knew where and they had all seemed to come to the agreement separately that it was for the best. Death Eaters were still around after all. And emotions were running high after everything. So, they hadn't really thought about it. For the first month, anyway. Admittedly, and this sounded bad, emotions had been raw and Severus, he didn't know about anyone else, didn't think he'd would have been able to cope with looking at Harry and Rylli and not having Lily and James. He felt awful and guilty for even thinking about it.

But now, well, it had nearly been three months. Three months! That was a quarter of a year. A quarter of a year had gone by since they'd lost... A quarter of a year since they'd seen their niece and nephew. And it was safer, wasn't it? Death Eaters were being caught and tracked down. Most had even been imprisoned, thankfully. Granted, none of the really big names had been caught yet...

The Lestranges. The Carrows. Malfoy. Yaxley. MacNair. There were so many still out there. But they were being hunted and there was no way they would be able to avoid justice forever. Right?

Actually, maybe they did need to do something happy. Something that was somewhat normal. Lile Chryssie said, birthdays were supposed to be celebrations and celebrations were supposed to be happy, right. Right? He bit the inside of his cheek and thought, not believing he was about to say this.

"Something small," he gave in.

Slightly. Only slightly! Because it was kind of a good idea, he supposed. He had been learning the last couple of years that birthdays were something to be celebrated. Still a weird thought but he kind of understood. And he supposed it was an excuse to eat cake, a guilty pleasure of his. Even if it was basically a month later. She wouldn't go over the top with something that was a month late, right?

She beamed at him.

"Small," he reiterated.


Wednesday 3rd February 1982

Marauder Flat, 07:00

Marlene looked around her and sighed, rubbing between her eyes. The place was a mess, she didn't sleep well last night and, and, well, she wasn't exactly equipped to start the day. She wasn't even dressed yet. Nor was Cassie but that was pretty normal because she was going through a phase of stripping off all of her clothes whenever she could. Marlene had just learned to let it happen because the only way those clothes were staying on was through a sticking charm and those were definitely not recommended for children. As long as she kept her nappy on then everything would be fine.

"Come on, you," she muttered, grabbing her extremely wriggly toddler.

Why did she have to have so much energy so early in the morning? Neither she nor Sirius had been like that. James had been but Cassie was definitely not James' child. Marlene found herself gagging at the thought. No, James had been more like one of her brothers.

And now there were tears in her eyes again. Was it normal to be sad and annoyed at yourself for the tears at the same time? Because she was. She had done enough crying, in her opinion. Crying wasn't going to do anything except make her feel bad.

"Play, mama," Cassie demanded, wiggling more.

"No, playing. Time to go."

"Go?" Cassie perked up at that. "Go where? Go fun?"

"Yes, go. You're going to Aunt Dora's."

The younger woman had been on night shifts for the past two weeks and now had a solid three days off. Today was her second and she had welcomed her idea of taking Cassie for the day, having spent all day yesterday catching up on sleep.

"Mama go too?"

"Mama has to go to work," she poked Cassie in the nose making her scrunch it up adorably.

"Want mama to come too."

"Mama has to work."

"Cassie work too."

"Cassie baby. Babies don't work."

"Not a baby! Big girl!"

"Well, big girls don't work either."

She was going to miss Cassie. It was so strange, the idea of not spending all day with her anymore. Which was odd because even when she had been born, Marlene had wanted to get back to work. She loved her daughter, don't get her wrong, but she needed work. In fact, she still needed work to feel somewhat sane and normal. But she had got used to hanging out with Cassie all day and now she wasn't going to have that...

She needed to focus and not think of anything depressing today. Because she was going to be very busy. Incredibly busy. You see, she was returning to work. Officially. Actual work. Last week had been all her paperwork and a quick interview with Moody and Amelia Bones (who was seriously rising quickly within the DMLE, good for her). They both seemed satisfied that she could work. Neither of them had mentioned Sirius so all was good. Work was good. She was good. Everything was good.

Except it wasn't because none of this was not so at all. She wasn't supposed to have two months free from work. She was an Auror. There was never a day free from work, it felt like.

No. None of that. That train of thought was coming to an emergency stop right there before it could continue down that track. She didn't want to continue down that track.

Distraction, distraction. She needed a distraction. The clock! There was the clock. And it was telling her that it was time for her to go to work.


Sunday 7th February 1982

Remus and Dora's Flat, 11:00

"Can I have some more of your blood?"

Remus recoiled, as you would when someone asked such a question. Especially when it was asked with such an eager look.

"Excuse me?"

There hadn't even been a greeting or a "how are you doing?" or anything of the sort. Nope. Just that question. Did he even hear the question correctly? Because people didn't normally ask questions like that.

"Hi, Severus. How are you? I'm fine," he said pointedly.

Severus sighed heavily like he was being the dense one.

"I. Need. More. Of. Your. Blood. May. I. Have. Some."

Yes, he actually asked like Remus was a particularly dim child. Which he wasn't.

"I'm not stupid, Severus. I heard you the first time."

"Then can you answer?"

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Come on, it's my birthday," Severus coaxed, sounding ridiucl8us."

Seriously, who asked for someone else's blood for their birthday? Unless, you know, you were a serial killer or something. Which he hoped Severus wasn't.

"Yes. Of course. Just leave some, would you?" He joked.

Severus didn't take kindly to it and gave him a disapproving look.

"I need two vials."

"You took three the last time."

"Well, now I need two."

"Its fine for you to take more " Remus tried to reassure him.

"You felt horrible afterwards. I'm not risking it."

"I was just a bit woozy. Nothing some chocolate didn't help."

Severus rolled his eyes. "You and your chocolate. And you were more than 'a bit woozy' so no."

"I've had worse full moons."

"Keep this up and I'll only take one," he threatened.

That shut him up, which was funny because it was Severus who needed the blood but whatever worked.

"How have you been handling full moons, by the way?" Severus asked shrewdly as he rolled Remus' sleeve up.

Remus didn't want to answer so he just looked away. This corner of table was very interesting. It didn't look as polished as the rest. He wondered how something like that happened? That was something that was far nicer to think about rather than full moons.

"Remus."

Look, it didn't really matter at the moment, did it? It wasn't like anyone could change the situation they were currently in so there was no point in talking about it. It was really that simple.

"Are you at least taking the pain relievers the next morning?" Severus asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

And Remus now felt guilty for making him worry. Severus had been kind enough to brew him those potions for his recovery, refusing to take any money (claimed that two of them were complicated enough that they actually helped with his Potions Mastery).

"Most of the time," he admitted.

Which was stretching the truth. Look, sometimes they didn't always have pain relievers on hand. They might not be the most expensive potion on the market but they weren't cheap either. Getting vials of them each month added up. And he couldn't brew them, the ones that worked used really diluted wolfsbane. Not enough to affect him when brewed into the potion but he couldn't handle the ingredient himself. Dora could but her shifts were all over the place that she didn't always have time to brew them. So, he used what they had sparingly. Was it enough to deal with the pain of after the full moon? No. But it took the edge off. Most of the time.

Severus narrowed his eyes at him. It was times like this that Remus remembered that Severus had dabbled in Leglimency. He averted his eyes.

"I'm going to brew you some each month," he announced and before Remus could protest at the cost to him, "I'll use the ingredients from the lab. No one will miss them and it will be a good demonstration for brewing in batches. It's a good potion for that."

Remus sighed in defeat.