London, 1978

The code for the intruder question was simple. "Shortbread and Showtime". Precautions had to be taken during dark and dismal times, and that led to codes being formulated to prevent any unwanted visitors from making themselves known.

Yet somehow it was hard for four young men, fresh out of Hogwarts, to remember a simple sentence. Mia knew it was them, even if a group of supposed "death eaters" were able to polyjuice themselves as the four Marauders, they would never be able to portray the utter "tomfuckery" that was unique to them.

"Argh shit, what was it... Mia just let us in," James whined, running his fingers through his messy black hair. Peter snorted, before wacking him over the head, which made James elbow him in the side.

Sirius groaned. "Come on, Mia... you know it's us. Who cares about the stupid code anyway—," Remus cut him off,

"You were the one who insisted and made the code...,"

"Well I didn't know it would be that easy to forget!"

Peter rolled his eyes before walking up to the door, knocking at it and in a clear and concise voice saying "Shortbread and showtime.".

"Finally, it took you all too long," Mia laughed as she opened the door. Peter smirked as he skipped through, leaving behind James, Remus and Peter on the doorstep of the flat. The three of them looked confused, shocked and bitter at once.

"How did he—."

"Wait how—."

"Hang on a minute—."

Mia shook her head in disbelief before ushering them in. Sirius pecked her on the cheek on his way in, which made her blush lightly as they all assembled in the kitchen.

"Peter, you little shit!" They all said at once, in a weird synchronised manner that disturbed everyone. "You knew all along!"

"I wanted to make you think!"

Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadows were all sitting at the round kitchen table, a plethora of magical books lay scattered across it with three mugs of ginger tea. When she saw James come in, Lily's face brightened up. James softly smiled at her, giving her a small hug before perching himself at the counter. Marlene and Dorcas were whispering to each other, giggling at Peter's socks that were a bright neon green with blue fish patterns. Remus made himself at home, opening the fridge to scan for potential snack candidates, grumbling as he realised that there was nothing to eat instantly.

"Do you two not have anything to eat?" He asked, looking directly at Sirius. "I don't know how you two survive"

Mia pulled out her wand and swished it at the cupboard behind James's head. It swung open as James ducked with his Quidditch reflexes. A bag of crisps floated out and into Remus's arms.

"Happy?" She asked, as Remus nodded with enthusiasm. "Now that everyone is satisfied, let's get down to business!"

The makeshift gathering lasted for an hour, consisting of topics surrounding the Order Of The Phoenix, Remus' undercover missions and Peter's research tasks. Eventually they were all so tired that Mia had to open up the floo in the living room, bidding them all farewell as they left. Marlene and Dorcas left together for their cottage in Hertfordshire, Peter left for his mother's home in Camden and Remus left with Lily and James for their flat in Highbury.

Exhausted, Mia cleared up the kitchen as Sirius cleared the living room. They both collapsed onto the sofa and sat there for a moment.

"Do you think we'll ever get out of this situation?" Mia asked him, turning her head to look at him. "We've lost so much." She thought of the death of Cynthia, who had sacrificed herself so desperately to save Lily just months prior to that evening. She thought of her sister Kitty, who felt unsafe working in the corrupt Ministry. She thought of herself and Sirius. How they'd sacrificed their normalcy for missions, surveillance and espionage.

Sirius sighed, they both knew that he had no clue.

"This is our situation, it has been for a while and it will continue to be like this for a while. I'm not saying the end will be near, for all we know it'll be decades." He rubbed at her knuckles, " but we will survive."

"We will survive," she confirmed firmly, before slowly standing up to get ready for bed. "I'm gonna go get changed, don't stay up too late please?" Sirius nodded, blowing her a kiss as she left the room.

A sudden tap at the window drew his attention so quickly that it shocked him.

It was an unfamiliar owl.

Cautiously, he stood up and went over to the window to examine the owl. After opening it, the owl promptly hopped in to drop the piece of paper it was clutching onto the windowsill, before rushing out.

Taking out his wand, Sirius levitated the paper around, watching with eyes burning with curiosity as the paper unfurled to reveal the scrawl,

lady lazarus

He was way too tired for this.