How it happened, from beginning to end, from the man who started it all.

Infallible? Me? Come on. He had to be kidding. Only someone clearly off their rocker would put the likes of me up on a pedestal.

James tried to find the words, but nothing came. How in the hell are you supposed to explain to a drunk girl that garden gnomes aren't pets?

In which Sirius is possibly naked, and Remus' mind is not the safest place to be.

He glanced up and caught Albus's eye. Albus made no attempt at occluding his thoughts, and merely visualized his tea service in careful and complete detail. The corner of Gellert's mouth twitched.

One brother: the one you love above all others. Two brothers: the ones you can never choose between.

It wasn't always like that. Because when Dumbledore had paused before the cluster of four boys--and they were still boys, Sirius knew now--on their last day at Hogwarts, and told them that they were bound for extraordinary things, he'd been right.

Remus meets Sirius on the Hogwarts Express when Sirius' piano falls on his foot.

She never noticed all the empty spaces in her life until they started to fill up with memories.

"I had a chance for a proper Christmas. I wasn't slapped or called names, and no one insulted my friends." He pulled a another cigarette from this pocket and lit it with the first. "I wasn't sent to bed without supper because I'm not of a mind to kill Muggles."

It is jarring, then, to find a woman lying in a pool of red in the upstairs bathtub. Disturbing, to see the blood protection of the Boy-Who-Lived slowly and very literally drip down the bathroom drain.

It is defined as "possessing lemur-like qualities." Like Moony. He possesses lemur-like qualities; thus, he is lemury.

Remus Lupin wrote an essay about Quidditch and sex in his seventh year. Are you brave enough to read it? You'll never see the Snitch the same way again.

"Potter," Lily blurted out desperately, catching sight of him in the corner with his friends. "It was Potter, and it was before we went out."

"Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting."

He still isn’t sure how they got here, sticky and feverish, Lily pressed against the trunk of an old oak tree, his big hands tangled in her hair. It’s two days before end of term and the hottest day of the year.

Neville knew something was not quite right with him. Other wizards his age awaited racing brooms. He awaited his mother’s gum wrappers.

It is a full moon on the night of October thirty-first, nineteen eighty-one, and therefore Remus has the best Halloween costume in most of England.

"Sometimes I think a curse should rest on me—because I love this war. I know it's smashing and shattering the lives of thousands every moment—and yet—I can't help it—I enjoy every second of it."

(She may or may not blame the eggnog later on, of course. He cannot foresee whether she will, and cannot bring himself to care just yet.)

There's no one else to blame, but it's easier to take out your frustration on Death Eaters, garden gnomes and Alice Longbottom. It's simply more comfortable.

Another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults.

James was pink from head to toe, and from what Remus could see, it was the same exact color all over--not like a sunburn with varying shades, but a solid stomach-medicine hue, vaguely nauseating in and of itself. It had to be Charmwork. Advanced Charmwork from the looks of it--magic that no regular first year ought to have known. Which narrowed the field to James--who was predisposed to magic; Sirius--who was predisposed to mischief; Remus--who was predisposed to reading; or Snape.

"Winky saw Professor Snape killing Harry Potter and then - hic! - bringing him back to life!"

"Oh MERLIN. STOP WRIGGLING OR I'LL HEX YOU! This is a rule. There is a KNICKERS RULE!"

Teddy Lupin never gets too close or feels too much; his godfather's son never does anything else.

One day, Sirius notices how attractive Remus’ girlfriend is.

Six hours stuck in a closet with someone you love -- it's the best kind of hell imaginable.

Algernon sicked up under my bed. Moony and I discussed what we could do with it during breakfast, but by the time I’d run up to preserve it after lunch, the house-elves had already got to it. Another wasted opportunity.

A lovesick Sirius is a desperate thing, and Remus Lupin insists on being oblivious.

From the moment he saw her, Arthur knew there was something special about Molly Prewett.

But then, realisation struck her like a bolt of lightning, made her head ache and her stomach roll and her heart lurch inside her chest. She grabbed his wrist and yanked up his sleeve, ignoring his gasp of pain. The infamous Mark, the snake and skull that she’d caught her sister admiring on her own arm glared at her, black and charred on his white skin. It radiated heat, in spite of how cold he was. The raindrops that fell to touch it sizzled and evaporated as greenish smoke.

For a few million years, the earth was populated entirely by dinosaurs. While good guy Brontosaurus!Harry splashed happily in the water, nibbling plants, evil Raptor!Draco plotted to eat his vegetarian rival some day. However, when the dreaded Voldie Rex came along, raptor and brontosaurus discovered true love under the gentle shade of a pterodactyl’s wings. Tragically, even Raptor!Draco could not withstand the asteroid that obliterated Harry, Voldie and every trace of life on the planet.

If James wanted to debase himself in order to win a single date with Lily Evans, well, that wasn't much of a change at all.

“I loved you once, you know.” James knew that things would be different. He just hadn’t known how much they had changed.

You know what, my little man? Mum’s going to step out for awhile, and dad is just going to have to watch you.

After his father casts a mysterious curse on Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy is forced to try to make things right.

She freezes, looking up at Abraxas Malfoy's portrait. It--he--has always been civil to her, but not what she'd call friendly, certainly never paternal. Now he is smiling down at her, with more warmth and force than a swath of canvas has any right to project.

I’m not sure why I responded to the ginger-haired girl the way I did. I’d seen a hundred of her type before--pale and skittish at finding themselves here, but arrogant, too, never worked a day in their life, likely to look down on a woman like me who makes a honest living through trade. They pretend like they’ve been to Knockturn Alley before, like they know what they’re doing, like they know what they want. They rarely do. I take their gold anyway. I need it. We’ve all been screwed over by somebody--and I’m the first to admit it happened to me--but if they pay me enough, I’ll help them act like that’s not true.

"Gran!" Neville exclaimed. "Do you realize this means you're married?" He paused as the situation sank in. "To Professor McGonagall?" he added, just in case either was befuddled as he was. "Gran?"

Growing up is hard to do, especially in the shadow of your father’s reputation. Scorpius Malfoy has a tough time keeping his resolution to be the best Slytherin he can be when schoolboy games, unicorns, incompetent friends and a beloved enemy all conspire to teach him something different – and rather wonderful – about himself.

A thousand years or more ago, the first stones are being laid at Hogwarts and Rowena is determined that there will be no secrets between the four wizards.