Frigus . Sirius Black (Mortem BOOK 2)

chapter seventy-nine

note: please keep in mind that i had to battle writer's block to get this out, it's just a filler and all but i feel like we need that lately 

October 31st, 1980 - Grimmauld Place 

Halloween had long since been one of the marauder's favourite holidays. The opportunity to prank, the parties with the good music and inevitable booze that followed a chase from McGonnagal down the Hogwart's corridors, and for Sirius and Nephera, it was their anniversary. 

Despite that, it was also quite a bitter reminder of what had happened all the way back in seventh year, of the people they had lost back then, Ellie and Tony, who loved the holiday almost as much as the rest did. 

This year, though, Halloween looked vastly different than it did in previous years. Even in the height of the war, the marauders never seized throwing their lavish parties, despite the fact that they grew smaller and smaller every year. 

The reason for this difference is none other than the small child bouncing on Remus's lap and the second child bouncing on Frank's knee as the group of friends were huddled around the living room of Grimmauld, nursing easy drinks in their hands and laughing, trying their hardest to ignore the war raging outside the room. 

Still, the absenses within the group were evident. The absense of Marlene's obnoxious laughter and Dorcas's snide comments left a hole not easy to ignore within them, but no one touched the subject, no one really spoke of the two ever since they went into hiding. Lily wrote to them frequently, but their responses were few and far between so as to not give away their location, "No, the best prank was definitely the portkey one," asserted Alice, "You weren't there, Frank, but it was chaos, actual chaos," 

James laughed at the memory, "It was a good one, but my personal favorite was the skeleton thing, Minnie looked bloody hilarious," 

"Minnie also damn near killed us," butted in Peter, "Are we forgetting third year? Neph's not-so-little head?" 

The brunette witch groaned at the memory, remembering how the four Gryffindor's had slipped something in her morning coffee that made her head swell up to five times it's size, leaving her looking like a cartoon character who'd swallowed up a bee, "Do not remind me of that," she yelled out, and quickly quieted once it looked like Neville was about to start crying (what kind of name was Neville anyone, she loved Alice, but clearly Alice did not love her son because that kid did not stand a chance with a name like that), "I got you back good though," 

"That you did, my love," sighed Sirius, wincing as he remembered the three days he had spent in the hospital wing after that, of course, no one had been able to trace it back to Nephera 

Lily laughed, grabbing her glass of pumpkin juice, still unable to drink since she was still breastfeeding, "All of you, were menaces. The rest of us would walk around the halls trembling that day," she pointed out rightfully, "Let's just hope this little one takes after his mother," 

"Please," laughed Frank, "With James Potter as his father, and the other four as his uncles and aunt? McGonnagal better watch out," 

They all laughed at that, settling into a relative silence, just listening to Bowie playing in the background. They all knew it was temporary, this momentary peace that had settled over them, but for now, they ignored it, "I'm going to go have a smoke," announced Nephera, standing up, Sirius following close behind her 

The air inside Grimmauld filtered itself, meaning that they could smoke indoors with no issue to the babies, but none of them wanted to smoke in the same room as them anyways, something about it just felt wrong. She dug out the practically empty pack from her pocket- there was only two left in it, she'd have to ask Sirius to pick her up some tomorrow after work- and fumbled with her lighter which seemed to be out of fluid.