1981 dawned on the world, bringing with it twelve months full of opportunity. Some would like to believe that with this new opportunity, good things would come about to the world, but they often forgot that with a good opportunity, came the bad. And, it was far harder for the light to absorb the darkness than for the darkness to swallow the light whole.

For James and Lily, on the first of January, shock had struck them like bullets.

Dumbledore had called them to his office alongside their friends Alice and Frank, and Dorcas and Myles. Each couple had to bring their child with them as well because of the short notice.

He told them what seemed to be a tall tale, nothing more than a story. They would all use the Fidelius Charm to go into hiding away from the world, away from all the opportunity.

Not long after this, he explained that they would perform the charm tomorrow. This meant that the decision of who became the Secret Keeper would have to be made today.

The headmaster had offered to be everyone's Secret Keeper, but only one couple had taken them up on this.

There they sat in the office where old opportunities lay around them, struck still by the rude awakening. Lily and James were the last to get up from their charms, afraid of what was going to happen in the upcoming months.

"Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore said, making both Lily and James's heads fly up to see the headmaster.

"Yes?"

"It has come to my attention that you own an invisibility cloak," Dumbledore started. "Would it be alright if I inspected it for a little while?"

Hesitating for a moment, James raised an eyebrow at the request. It wasn't what he was expecting, but he complied to the request and took the invisibility cloak out of his robes.

"Here it is," James said, still uncertain about his decision. "Take good care of it, please."

"Of course, James," Dumbledore said, transfixed on the cloak in his hands.

Lily stood up, hushing Harry as he stirred in his sleep, and prepared to exit the room. James walked out right behind her with all kinds of thoughts floating around his head.

Portraits passed by in a blur as did staircases, and very soon they were ready to apparate. Yet, before he turned on his spot, James hesitated in the silence as

james and lily walk silently through the walls of hogwarts

"I want to see Remus and Sirius," James spoke, splitting the silence in half.

"That sounds good, I'm just going to head home," Lily said before kissing him goodbye.

...

It didn't take long for James to sit down with Sirius and Remus in their living room. James was glad that Leilani was in Mary's flat at the moment because he really needed it to just be the marauders, even if Peter wasn't present.

"You alright mate?" Remus asked as he handed James and Sirius their tea.

"Not really, no," he responded at once. "You won't believe what Dumbledore told Lily and I."

He spent the next fifteen minutes explaining what the professor had told them, and spoke about how he felt with all this new information. Then, Sirius took the floor and told James about the mole in the Order.

"I think it would be smart to make Sirius the Secret Keeper," Remus pointed out the obvious.

James and Sirius nodded in agreement.

...

That night, after Harry had been read his bedtime story, Lily and James still found themselves awake in their kitchen. They had already spoken about how Sirius would make sense as their Secret Keeper when there was a knock on the door.

Ironically enough, it happened to be Sirius.

"I've had a wonderful idea, Prongs! Everyone will expect me to be your Secret Keeper! So, you should make it Wormtail!" Sirius said. "Nobody will ever expect him."

"Genius!"

...

The next day, Peter apparated outside the Potter home bright and early with Dumbledore by his side. The headmaster had already placed the other two families under the charm, and it took little time to complete the process with the third.

As the January days melted away, nothing had yet given way with the charms—which happened to be a good sign. Dumbledore made sure to go outside of where each home should be to stand and make sure the homes were still invisible to him.

The McKinnons were also choosing to stay put in their home. It seemed the safest option as the home had quite the amount of safety charms put on it.

It appeared like a number of people were going into hiding, and the auror office sure wasn't complaining. Yet, this wasn't good for businesses if they hadn't already shut down due to the owners going into hiding.

The more people hid, and the more people took their kids out of Hogwarts, the situation looked dire. The tide sure looked to be on Voldemort's side.

...

The Sun Doesn't Always Shine
Poem #6:  Tear Covered Pages

I drag my pen across this paper for the last time.
These tear covered pages will never cover how I feel

The poems I have written,
Can only speak to the heartbroken.
The words speak for me,
And there is nothing left to say.

In the beginning, (the prologue)
I hated love with the deepest passion,
but now, I leave you here with this,
Love will only become your enemy
If you fall out of it.

I never did that,
so I must learn to trust it again.

My heart will learn how to heal,
As will yours,
Just give it time.

...

They had only discovered his disappearance when Craig went home to surprise Regulus with lunch straight from Hogwarts.

Panicking after not seeing his boyfriend, Craig apparated to Sirius's flat and together, they rushed to Dumbledore. Now, they stood in front of the headmaster, who felt quite ambushed.

"You beat me to it," Dumbledore murmured.

"Beat you to what?" Sirius demanded.

"Regulus was attacked by Death Eaters, and he died before aurors could get to him," the professor spoke solemnly.

"That's impossible!" Sirius shouted at the same time Craig screamed and kicked a chair to its side.

...

Regulus did not agree with any of Dumbledore's methods when regarding his situation. He had just lost a lot of trust from people he cared about, just because the professor had told him that faking his death would be the best way to go about things.

You see, Regulus did encounter Death Eaters while he was in London, but he did not die, contrary to what Albus Dumbledore had just told his brother and boyfriend. Now, he was on his way to a safer place where a few people had already accepted his stay.

A few people that just so happened to be hiding from Lord Voldemort.

...

Author's Note:

If you could not tell, the poem is the last of the book!

THERES ONLY THREE CHAPTERS (excluding the epilogue) LEFT OF THIS BOOK AHAKAJDBSN

I just started editing the beginning of All the Stars and reading it back is quite enjoyable. I like reading the characters before all the character development happens.

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy🦂