Monday 7th December 1981

Auror Department, 11:00

Dora tried not to sigh too loudly as she sat down at her desk. More like flung herself down but who was really paying any attention to her? She was just an Auror. A new one. One who had barely got her feet wet because of all the trials going on. And one who allegedly had dubious links to dubious people so no one really wanted to interact with her more than necessary. She sighed again. This time she didn't bother trying to smother it. Let's look at the positives. At least she was getting a lot of court experience. Sure, it was just making sure that jury and the public didn't get too restless and getting the hell out of the way when Senior Aurors walked past.

Her and her fellow new Aurors weren't even allowed in the courtrooms half the time, so they didn't even get any excitement to break up their day. Technically, they were allowed in but that was down to the Senior Aurors involved. And none of them thought particularly highly of her.

Look, it wasn't her fault she was a Black. It wasn't her fault that she was a Metamorphmagus. Merlin, it wasn't even her fault that she was a bit of a klutz. Maybe she didn't have to talk so much though but she couldn't help that when she was nervous and, funnily enough, lots of intensely staring was veterans tended to make her nervous! What did they know anyway? Nothing. That was it. They knew nothing. Didn't they realise that the Black she was the child of was a Bloodtraitor? That she had escaped the Black family in the name of love? Didn't they realise That her being a Metamorphmagus didn't make her a freak? That she was born with it and she couldn't exactly help that? Same with the lack of grace.

She let her head fall onto her desk and breathed heavily, making some of her endless parchment work flutter to the ground. She couldn't even bring herself to care about that though someone would surely tell her off if they caught it on the floor. She was just a Junior Auror. She'd finally stopped calling herself a new Auror and was now using her proper title because it made her feel more legitimate. She deserved to be here, dammit.

And yeah, she had had that meeting with Moody and she'd gotten all excited when he said he was going to teach her about catching Dark Wizards. You could hardly blame her for that, that's why she became an Auror, for crying out loud. And he seemed to be really into teaching her.

And then a case came up. A big one. A massive one. A hush, hush, secret one that everyone knew was happening but no one knew was about. And Moody vanished. Just like that. Without a word. For two weeks now. Two weeks! Without saying anything to her!

Okay, maybe she wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things. Especially when it came to a Death Eater said but still!

She grumbled to herself as she decided that she really ought to tidy up the pieces of parchment. She was no slob. She was so busy doing that (why did parchment fit into every single little crevice?) that she didn't hear someone enter her cubicle.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Dora hadn't known that she could jump to her feet that fast. She actually got dizzy. Before her vision cleared, she glared at the one person who could be responsible for this. She didn't need to see who it was to know. And, sure enough, it was Moody. Looking a bit worse for wear (A literal chunk taken out of his nose) but he was there.

"Was that necessary?" She whined.

He had made her drop all of her parchment again.

"Yes. Because you weren't demonstrating CONSTWNT VIGILANCE!"

At least she was prepared for that this time. Though, the surrounding people evidentially weren't because she heard numerous thuds from the neighbouring cubicles. Whatever. Not her problem.

He narrowed her eyes at her.

"What have you been doing while I've been gone?"

"Less than you," she gestured at his nose.

He touched it and chuckled disturbingly.

"Aye, that was a good fight, lass."

"Uh huh," she said, unconvinced.

"So, tell me what you've been doing," he promoted again.

"Why don't you go first," she cheekily replied.

But all that got her was a chuckle. A chuckle!

Wednesday 9th December 1981

The Burrow, 08:00

Oh, how Peter was glad to be inside, warm and safe today. He had woken up when Percy, that was this particular Weasley's name, threw open his curtains. The way he woke up every morning these days. Even weak winter sunlight was blinding when you weren't expecting it.

But look, that was a minor complaint. A tiny one. Not even a complaint, more of an observation. Because there was no way that was going to be complaining about his current situation. Oh no. No way.

Oh, sure, the boy who had picked him up now declared him to be a pet of all things and he didn't exactly know how to handle him. But Peter would put up with any amount of poor handling if it meant that he wasn't going to freeze to death this winter. And yes, he had actually been scared of that happening some nights. It was terrifying.

Now It wasn't. Now he was (relatively) safe and warm and he had food, lots of food, and, the best part, no one was ever going to find him here. No one was going to realise that he was anything more than a child's pet. It was brilliant! This child, Percy, had unwittingly had a great idea! He could stay here for as long as he liked, try and sort things out, get his head on straight and then he could plan. Plan what, he wasn't exactly sure yet. He hadn't exactly had any long-term plans beyond surviving and, you know, staying alive.

Which it looked like this Percy wanted him to do so even that was going to take very little effort on his part.

"It's a lovely day, isn't it Scabbers?" The boy said cheerfully, turning around from his window with this big smile on his face.

He had his two front teeth missing which gave him and odd look. Peter couldn't help the squeak of disgust at the name he was now going to be called by. Scabbers? Really? Scabbers? That wasn't even a real name. It was... well, he didn't know what it was. Merlin, even Snuffles was better than Scabbers.

Percy then proceeded to make his bed. Peter jumped to the boy's bedside table so he didn't get caught in the blankets again. He'd managed to do that twice already. Tumbling to the ground was not a pleasant experience. Especially when he got books on the way down. The boy read! He was like six. We're six-year-olds supposed to know how to read? He wasn't sure how children worked. He remembered Lily saying something about starting school when she was four for something called Reception? But did she learn to read then? What even was a reception?

Before he realised what was happening (he really did have to start paying more attention to his surroundings), he was lifted up in the air again and put in a trouser pocket. He really didn't like this view of the word. The constant motion made him dizzy.

Thankfully, this was a short trip and he was soon put again and dumped on yet another wooden surface.

"Percy, don't bring Scabbers to the table," Molly Weasley said with a sigh. "It's not hygienic."

"But he's clean!" Percy said indignantly, protectively covering him with a hand.

"Rats are not clean, Percy. They are rodents."

"Scabbers is really clean! He cleans himself all the time."

But Mrs Weasley had got distracted by something else a d didn't say anything further on the matter. Peter wasn't sure She had even heard Percy's reply.

"Why don't you give him a bath?" Bill suggested.

"But it's not bath day," Percy said suspiciously.

Bill rolled his eyes.

"Not for you, sure. But the rat doesn't need to use the actual bath. Use the sink."

Peter got this awful, sinking feeling in his stomach and it wasn't because he was suddenly held a lot tighter.

"Yeah! That makes sense! Thanks, Bill!"

"No problem, buddy."

"My name's Percy."

"Yeah, yeah. Just be careful with the soap, okay?"

And then Bill disappeared from view.

"I will!" Percy called and then lifted Peter so that the two of them were facing each other. "It's time for a bath, Scabbers."

Marauder Flat, 19:00

"I can't make sense of this anymore," Remus said, leaning back and rubbing at his eyes.

Marlene couldn't help but great a sigh of relief at that. If Remus couldn't understand all this legal terminology, then she certainly didn't expect herself too. She thought she had just been going crazy from the amount of reading she had done. No, just the language was getting more and more complicated. Why had they even tried to make sense of it? You definitely needed all sorts of qualifications to even start understanding this.

"My head hurts," she grumbled, reaching for a headache reliever.

Chryssie had made an unholy amount of them. Something about also wanting to brew some potions and having a lot of nervous energy. Whatever. Marlene was just glad that they had a lot of them.

She tipped back the vial and downed it in one. Who would have thought her drinking skills would come in handing for taking potions? Not her, that's for sure.

"It's a good thing that we're going to Andromeda with all this," he said, pushing their shelves of parchment to one side. "Hopefully she'll be able to get further on than we've managed to."

Yes, they had decided that Andromeda was their best bet. They had basically decided it earlier but now they had weighed up the pros and cons properly (and not when they were all sleep deprived like they had been when the idea was first voiced) and they had all come to agreement. They needed someone with actual legal experience. There was no way they could get any further without it. They would be laughed out of the courts.

Of course, Andromeda wouldn't be able to represent them or Sirius in any way, being a blood relative and having that who scandal nonsense attached to her but still. Her ability to translate things so they could actually understand it and hopefully recommend someone to represent them and Sirius would be invaluable.

Why did sorting out legal issues have to be so complicated?

Saturday 12th December 1981

Tonks' Home, 12:00

Dora leaned back on the sofa and relaxed. Oh, it was nice to spend some time with her parents. It felt like she hadn't in ages. It was so nice a peaceful and she wasn't responsible for anything and they could just chat about normal things. It was actually a happy place. And there weren't much of those in her life right now.

Nope. No thinking like that. Not during family time. That was a rule. A good rule. An important rule. Today was to be nice and normal and peaceful.

"So, when are you giving us another one?" Ted teased, nodding over at Andromeda and Teddy.

Dora raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

"You look an awful lot like your mother when you do that. Did you know that?"

"Dad. What. Did. You. Say."

Because there was no way she had heard what she had just heard, right?

"Another grandchild," Ted repeated with a sheepish yet eager look on his face.

A statement that made both her and Remus splitter uncontrollably. And for her to choke because of course this was when she decided to take a mouthful of tea.

What type of question was that? Why were they asking that? What? Who? Argh, it was like her brain had short-circuited.

It wasn't like Teddy had been conceived under the best of circumstances! Dora briefly thought of that whole situation she and Remus had put themselves in and pushed it away again. Yes, they technically hadn't completely resolved that whole issue but it was fine. They were getting along fine. Whatever they were, whatever this relationship was, they were fine. Better than fine, actually. They were good. As good as they good be considering everything that was going on but everyone was going through the same thing so they were fine. They were fine. They were fine.

And they wanted to stay fine. Which meant no more babies. No more. Teddy was enough. Teddy was fine. Sure, that meant he was an only child but they were both only children and they turned out fine. They turned out fine. And he was going to grow up with a whole bunch of cousins so it wasn't like he was going to be lonely or anything. Yep, no more babies.

"What's this about another grandchild?" Andromeda asked, finally returning to the conversation. Though this might be due to the fact that Teddy was now asleep on the floor, sporting a milky beard and moustache. "Nymphadora, are you pregnant?"

"No!" She and Remus both said loudly and with such intensity that her parents actually jumped.

Whoops.

But no. No pregnancy. No baby. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.

St Mungo's, 16:30

"Hey, Evans?"

Chryssie tried not to sigh too loudly. It was Ridley, a Trainee Healer the year below her who had and extremely high opinion of himself. Whatever, that was most Healers unfortunately so he was just getting a head start. But if he was going to tell her that he could have done something better than her despite never doing it yet again she was going to scream.

"Yes, Trainee Ridley," she stressed.

That was another problem. He never remembered to use titles and that was going to get him in trouble with a Healer one of these days.

He, of course, ignored her pointed remark. And she knew he ignored it because he rolled his eyes at it. Oh, he was so infuriating.

"Isn't your fiancé called Snape?"

His mouth did this weird sneer thing at the name. Had she mentioned that he was a pureblood? An incredibly snobby one at that? Of course, he would recognise that Severus' surname wasn't that of a pureblood. Wait. Severus was here?

"Severus is here?" She asked in a panic. "What's wrong with him?"

She started looking around as if he would suddenly appear.

"He got some burns-"

She didn't bother waiting until he had finished before she took off towards the burn ward. It turned out that she could run quite fast when she was in a panic.

"Severus, Severus, Severus," she chanted under her breath as she ran at such a speed that she actually skidded around corners.

She was probably going to get told off for that later but she really didn't care. Severus was injured! Burned!

"Evans!"

That was Healer Gibbons. Thank Merlin. Someone Senior to her. Someone who was an actual Healer.

"Yes, ma'am? " She said breathlessly, her body just starting to realise how much she had made it run.

"I was just about to get you. A Severus Shape is your fiancé, correct?"

She nodded vigorously, unable to form words right now. Breathlessness and worry tended to do that to you.

"Good. Come with me."

She had forgotten how blunt and to the point Healer Gibbons could be. She worked under her a few weeks ago and she never said any more than what was strictly necessary.

"What happened?" She asked, trying to keep up with the pace the older woman set.

"A potion of his, one we are still trying to identify all of the components of-"

"He experiments. He's doing his Potions Mastery," she interrupted, earning herself a frown.

"Indeed. That is good to know," Gibbons said, making a note of the par of parchment all Healers carried around. "I will let the lab know to stop looking at common potions and focus on ingredient breakdown."

Chryssie nodded nervously, her worry starting to rise again.

"Now, the burns aren't serious and we have already begun the healing process. We did not want to close up the open wounds just yet until we found out what ingredients he was working with."

She nodded automatically. That was the normal procedure. Can she just get to the bit where Severus was, okay? He was okay, wasn't he?

"There appears to be no damage below the surface of the skin but we want to make sure. Even more so now that you've told us about his experimentation. We need to make sure that-"

"There's no delayed reaction from certain ingredient combination that could burrow into his skin and cause worse damage," Chryssie finished, remembering her studies.

Instead of being annoyed at the interruption, Gibbons looked proud.

"Precisely, Evans. Well done."

She puffed up a bit in pride at the compliment. Trainee Healers didn't get a lot of those. But even that pride didn't last too long because of her worry.

Thankfully when she got to the ward he was on, he was sitting up in bed. Looking nervous.

"Hi," he said, with a small wave.