I wouldn't normally do this, but I just wanted to show my readers what my thought process was while writing this story. Because I've never really written a full on story that isn't one-shots, if you ignore the really bad one I wrote a long time ago.

Characters

Starting off I wanted to make Sirius pretty reserved and quiet. He develops into his true self, the one we all know and love, because of Remus. They develop trust very early on and it allows Sirius to break out of his shell.

I don't like the consistent "Peter is lured to Slytherin in Hogwarts" which is why he betrays them. I've probably written that myself to be honest sometimes. But this time I wanted to highlight Peter as a friend to the Marauders. Obviously he was loyal to them at Hogwarts and I gave him a personality that fits with them. But I didn't want to make him too bold and individualistic because his nature is to follow James and Sirius' lead. So most of the time he agrees to do things rather than come up with it himself.

Regulus is Sirius' main "issue" while at school. His friends are becoming Death Eaters and pulling him into the "dark side." Naturally Regulus is intrigued because he shares the similar morals of his parents, unlike Sirius. But Sirius will do anything to steer his brother away from it which is why he sneaks away so often to help him. We all know Sirius runs away from his home, and I wanted him to have have that fight with Regulus about why becoming a Death Eater is wrong. I wanted the fight to impact Regulus so he is always unsure if joining is the right thing. Which shows when he goes to save Sirius the night of the full moon.

Frances is a small character I was originally going to have as the one hit with the sectumsempra curse. But I changed my mind because it was unlikely for Sirius to curse her than Lisa. She has a crush on Regulus as a kind of forbidden love. They are on different ends of blood status. At times he can be nice to her, and I wanted to use that as a way to show that Regulus is not Sirius. He does have prejudice against blood status so the possibility of them being together would never happen. She has loyalty to Sirius because he helped her when Lisa bullied her, in the flashback on chapter 11. It isn't said, but she is one of the few people who never judges him for being himself.

Remus and Abigail

I knew everyone would hate Abigail the second she was introduced, so when Remus cheats on her I wanted to create a feeling of sympathy for her. Even though everyone loves to hate the villain, nobody deserves to be cheated on. I wanted people to feel bad because she was so "in love" with Remus and heartbroken. But morally, Remus would never cheat. So I hint that she was the first one to cheat on their relationship. And later in chapter 25 James tells Lily the flashback of when he catches Abigail cheating on Remus in their 5th year.

I repeated the phrases "I love you" and "love you too" in almost all of their conversations early on. I believe that there is a difference between being in love and having love, and I wanted that distinction to be clear - so that is why Sirius calls out Remus for it in chapter 29.

In chapter 19, Abigail has an inner monologue in which she explains how Remus has changed from the shy boy she grew up with. He reads less often, goes out and really lives his life (the things he tells Sirius he tries to escape before) and is developing into himself confidently. And it's Sirius' doing. Sirius is bringing Remus to life after being dormant in his relationship with Abigail for so long. When Abigail explains how Remus has been acting different and is in the "puppy love" phase all over again, chapter 18, he's falling in love with Sirius. The time they share together - which isn't always snogging - makes him happier and therefore it reflects on his relationship with Abigail. Remus' actions also shows how fake their own relationship is.

Remus has internal conflicts with himself. His need to please everybody can only please half of the people most of the time. His relationship with Abigail was as real as 11 year olds can get, but as they grow older it's clear that they don't belong together. So when Abigail cheats on him in their 5th year,  Remus thinks it's his fault. Abigail manipulates him into staying with her. The flashback in chapter 25 was the unofficial end of their relationship. Everything since then has not been true love, and their relationship was never fixed.

The Mystery

The idea of a "murder mystery" was what really inspired me to write this book.

I tried to spread the possibility of who committed the "crime" at the Whomping Willow between Sirius and Snape. Early on I had set up that Lisa was a bully to Frances and Sirius absolutely despised her, chapter 11, but it could easily be looked over as Lisa is not one of the main characters. It gives Sirius motive as to why he would attack her.

In chapter 5 I wrote the fight between Sirius and Snape to show that they hated each other. As it's revealed, it was Snape's spell that was used. Snape hates Sirius, so it was reasonable to assume Sirius was the first target and he accidentally hit Lisa. But, that would be too obvious. So the book was planted in Sirius' possession.

The night is told through Lily's perspective (even though it is in third person). Lily is the one telling Dumbledore what she saw that night and her perspective is one way. Because of this, she could only see the three and not what was behind her. Unlike Sirius who (briefly in chapter 38) recalls seeing a spell being cast in his direction, because he was the only person facing that way. Lily, Snape, and Lisa were all facing towards Sirius.

When they try to figure out what happened, I needed to find a way to make it clear that there was possibility of another person being present that night. In chapter 38, Lily aligns her wand with the mark on the tree while standing at the bottom of a hill, indicating that someone could've shot it from there.

Nobody would think it was Sirius. That would be disappointing to everybody. Abigail, from the very beginning, was the person I decided who would cast the spell. But I didn't want it too obvious that it was Abigail because what fun would that be.

I needed to spread the blame around so that it people couldn't pin point one person. Initially it was Sirius, Snape, and Lisa. Suspicion starts to grow when Sirius is hiding information about that night. Remus starts to doubt Sirius, but he feels bad because he is hiding his own secret. Lily starts to question James on his whereabouts, and he avoids her at all costs. The way I wrote it, I wanted them all to be shady so that any of them could have something to do with that night. But in the end, they're all justified.

Clues

These are the main clues I left that indicate Abigail was the one who cast the curse:

1. In every potions class, I add some sort of banter where Abigail is bothering James. She never has her book, and James never lets her use his. Reading for the first time, it's humorous and it is easy to overlook. But it is repeated a few times, just to make sure people know that she never has her book. She is always looking at Snape's textbook for answers, without him knowing, because she never has her own which implies that she could have seen the spell written on the pages and used it. These clues are in chapters: 6, 14, 30, 31.

2. Abigail isn't the best witch in DADA and can't aim (mentioned by Remus in chapter 30) which is why the spell didn't hit Sirius. While I was writing, I thought of HBP when Harry duels with Draco and the spell nearly kills him. Seeing as Harry never used the spell before, I wanted the same impact from Abigail. She casts the spell without knowing exactly what it was and nearly kills Lisa.

3. In chapter 19, it's mentioned that Abigail kisses Remus with "glossed lips". This was a terrible clue, but as it's revealed, Abigail was crouched behind the boulder and her gloss rubs off. Lily sees a shiny, glossy film on the boulder when she's with James.

4. Frances runs into Abigail and knocks over her books in chapter 34. Frances picks up her books, and one is a Potions textbook. It should be suspicious that she has one considering that she never does in class.

5. When Lily leaves the dorm to follow Remus, it's noted how Abigail usually snores but that night it was unusually quiet which was a "blessing." It hints that Abigail potentially wasn't in the dorm.

6. Technically, Lily shows up at the Whomping Willow first and then sees Sirius. So when Frances claims to have seen a girl following Sirius, in chapter 40, it has to be Abigail.

I did also give a few clues to people in the comments ;)

1. I gave a hint which was chapter 30. What I wanted readers to notice was another reminder that Abigail doesn't have a book when James switches tables because he can't stand her always trying to share his book. Another is when Remus says that Abigail is terrible at DADA and can't aim.

2. I said that two clues correlate in chapter 38 and one is a piece of dialogue. After the Marauders plus Lily Evans try to reenact the night of the full moon, Lily stops at the base of the hill and aims her wand (which hints that there was another person there that night) The piece of dialogue that correlates is when Regulus is listening to Snape boast in the Great Hall that he was the one who hurt Lisa. Regulus tells Snape "You're lying" and how would he know that if he wasn't there?

Small Things

Sometimes just to switch the mood I would try and write some light hearted parts before something serious happens. But chapter 24 was straight up just for fun.

I loved The Outsiders, even though I haven't read it in a while. I needed something that Remus could connect to Sirius with. Drawing and photography are two small things that kind of wind up in their relationship at the beginning. The simplistic idea of Sirius and Remus spending time together doing separate things but having the company was just cute. Also, if you've read the book or seen the movie, you know why Remus' owl is named Sodapop. The sunset lines Remus says about his mom are a reference to the book as well.

In chapter 15 James doesn't want to room with Remus because Peter "doesn't sing in his sleep." He tells Sirius about the time Remus was singing Dancing Queen in his sleep which is why that is the song James decides to play when Remus goes to his surprise birthday party. 

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For the first group of people who read this while I was publishing, shoutout to gnrainbow because you were the first person to correctly guess that Abigail cursed Lisa and framed Sirius. And Potterhead305  you guessed that there was more than one person involved and figured out that Regulus cast the spell at the tree to save Sirius.

Me when y'all started busting out those theories

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I'd love to answer any questions or talk about anything. Thank you again and I hope you enjoyed the story if you read it :)

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