A/N: So as many of you have doubtlessly noticed in these last few chapters, I've been having trouble with the writing process of this story. I am going to put the weekly updates on pause for the next few weeks so that I can write Regimentum without worrying about meeting the weekly deadline that I've set for myself. It's become clear to me that I have reached a crossroads with this story: I can either continue posting poorer quality chapters each week or I can take a break from weekly updates to properly get into the story. My previous two week hiatus wasn't as effective as I'd hoped! I really didn't want to do this because I know how frustrating it can be to wait for chapters, but I feel that it would be a disservice to Vivian and Sirius to continue posting chapters that I'm not completely happy with. I don't want any of you to worry though. This hiatus will be temporary and hopefully short. I am hopeful that it won't be longer than a month, and then weekly updates will continue. I just need to get into the flow of this story and get a better feel for how to go about writing the first wizarding war, which is difficult in itself (as some of you have mentioned) since Rowling never went into a whole lot of detail regarding the events therein. Please don't worry that I'll end up dropping this story, because that won't happen. I am thoroughly invested in writing Vivian and Sirius's story until the end! Thank you all for being so supportive and understanding :) Also, if anyone was wondering (I did mention this in Cajamarca's epilogue but have had a few people ask since then), I am tentatively planning on starting to post Charlie's side-story by the end of the summer/maybe sooner depending on how inspired I am, but Regimentum takes priority. I'll be writing most, if not all, of Charlie's story before posting, so once the first chapter is up I'll be doing twice-weekly updates same as Cajamarca. That said, now for some review responses, since I have been bad about responding to them lately!

Nyota Malfoy: Thanks so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the story and it will get better! Haha. I do have a lot of plans for this season, I've just had a bit of a hard time acclimating to the new energy of it. I hope you continue with the story in the future after my brief hiatus :)

Iyssabun: I have lots of scenes planned with the Marauders, I just have to figure everything out! :) Honestly though these last few chapters make me cringe so I'll probably end up going back and doing some edits before resuming the weekly updates. I don't know why but Vivian has turned into a 1950s housewife...something I realized as I was writing this chapter and James helpfully pointed it out to me (and Sirius) as he is wont to do ;) Ah I love James so much. It's going to be so hard to write his inevitable fate, I've grown so attached to his character

AshGalathynius: Yes! Gavin will be in this story, but you won't see him for a while as he is continuing his education up in Norway for the first few story arcs. There will be correspondence between him and Vivian though, so it won't seem like he's completely out of the picture in the meantime.

misslari: Thank you! It has been a bit more challenging than I expected, but I'm confident that I'll be able to flesh out the first wizarding war as I go, I just need to give it a bit more thought. But if anyone has any ideas for Order missions and such, I'd so appreciate the feedback! As for your thoughts on a confrontation between Vivian and her father, I do agree that it would make for good character development. I have a tentative plan for Lukas Blair's character arc throughout S2 and a confrontation will probably be inevitable, so you'll most likely see this happen at some point!

remifoster1313: Ah yeah, I have been having a hard time of it! It's a shame because I was so excited to start writing S2! I think one of my problems is that I've been treating Regimentum as a direct continuation of Vivicendium instead of it being a separate story with different antagonists, plots, etc. And also the energy is just so different from what I've gotten accustomed to when Vivian and Sirius were still at Hogwarts. But I'm sure I'll be able to figure this out with a bit more time and hopefully make it just as good as S1. As for the Order, I'm at a bit of a loss for how to go about that at the moment but, again, I'm sure I'll figure it out as I write (and if you have ideas, let me know!). Also love that thought regarding Harry being a link between Vivian and Sirius in S3 if she is also made a godparent, I hadn't thought of it in particular light. Still unsure what exactly I'll do with that...but then again, my writing plans are always at least partially up in the air until I actually sit down and write the scene in question! Thanks so much for the feedback as always :)

Given my announcement to take a break from posting weekly updates for a short while, I am a bit unsure when the next chapter will be out, but as I said above, I'm hoping it won't be longer than a month maximum. In the meantime, I hope you all stay healthy and have a lovely next few weeks until we meet again ;D

Chapter Four | Pro salute animi

[For the welfare of the soul]

When the Marauders return to the small cottage in Tinworth, the world around them is dark, bathed in a dark grey pallor that boasts the oncoming night and glittering with the first stars to show their light in the sky above. It is a swarthy evening, warm and humid from the rain shower several hours before, and the four of them trudge towards the door with frowning faces. The mission doesn't go according to plan. They were noticed, and then promptly evaded before they could find out any useful information at all.

Their spirits are low as a result. Tired and in a foul mood from running around London all day, James had wanted to head back to Godric's Hollow and attempt to forget their failures, but Sirius had convinced him to have a glass of firewhiskey before he calls it a night, and had successfully managed to wrangle Remus and Peter into it as well. The former hadn't complained and had just shrugged in acquiescence; the latter had argued a bit more. Peter, unfortunately, had the worst day of them all. He is apparently not cut out for undercover missions, even though they've all had their fair share back in Hogwarts. Sneaking out in the middle of the night to set up pranks on unsuspecting Slytherins and other Targets doesn't quite translate to the real world in the way they had expected.

"I almost miss Hogwarts," James mutters as the cottage comes into view in the distance. "Everything seems so much harder somehow."

They had apparated just outside the small muggle village to avoid the wards Sirius and Vivian have been gradually placing on the house. The first ward they had conjured had been an anti-muggle one. The second, an anti-apparition spell. The layers of protection around the cottage had been at Vivian's behest, mainly. Sirius suspects her interest isn't merely to protect them from anyone who might come calling, though, but also a desire to do something that makes her feel at least somewhat useful. She excels at spells and incantations and had even surprised him with a few protection wards of her own creation.

"Well, we shouldn't let the Order completely rule our lives," Remus says. "You and Sirius should apply to the Auror's office like you wanted."

The thought makes Sirius glance at him. "You think? McGonagall told me that the training is intense, though…we wouldn't have much time for missions if we went through with it."

On his other side, James shrugs, "True, but it'd give us a lot more experience and it is what we want to do. What about you, Pete? Any plans?"

Peter, who has been sullenly silent since his contribution to their botched mission (he had been the first of them to be noticed), looks up in surprise at having been addressed and grudgingly responds, "Er…no. I'm not really good at anything…"

The other Marauders eye him for a moment, unsure what to say to that. To be honest, most of them are in partial agreement, but then again, everyone is good at something. Perhaps Peter just hasn't realized what that is, yet.

Remus throws an arm around Peter's shoulders and says, "That's not true, Wormtail. You're good at plenty of things."

James quickly nods, "Yeah. Herbology, for example."

Sirius snorts, "Herbology? That's the best you could come up with?"

James turn to narrow his eyes at him and mutters, "You're not helping."

Sirius laughs, "I'm just saying that there's not a lot you can actually do with herbology – "

"I killed most of the plants I was assigned in class," Peter glumly reminds them, evidently deciding not to take Sirius's sarcasm to heart because he doesn't possess enough talent in the subject for it to matter one way or the other.

Sirius snickers and shoves Remus's arm off of Peter so as to throw his own around his shoulders instead. Then he declares, "Peter's greatest talent is to be our look-out. In fact, it might be his only one."

The other two, after a moment's consideration of this, laugh at Peter's expense as they are wont to do, and in the way boys like to laugh whenever they are in the mood to take the mickey out of a friend, so to speak. This is hardly an irregular occurrence for any of them, as they have and would do the very same thing if James, or Sirius, or Remus was the one being torn into. However, on this particular night, after the failure of their mission and the state it had put Peter in, he isn't entirely in the mood to deal with being the butt end of their latest joke. And besides, though they might not see it themselves, he is in this particular position far more often than any of them, and over the years it has certainly grown old.

With a pursed mouth, Peter throws Sirius's arm off of his shoulders and gruffly says, "I'm not in the mood for a firewhiskey after all, Padfoot."

The embittered tone that his voice takes on when he utters these words does wonders at dispelling the others' laughter, though there is still a notable amount of amusement in Sirius's eyes when he turns them to Peter. Remus is the only one who truly calms down enough to realize that it isn't the best time to harass Peter with any of their usual jokes and antics, but the other two aren't quite as observant. Then again, when it comes to Peter, they rarely ever are.

"Are you gonna go home and complain to your mum about your day?" James asks, raising a brow.

"Come on, Pete, she can wait. I'm sure she'll still tuck you in later," Sirius laughs.

"Besides, we've all had a bad day and I'm sure Sirius has something else other than firewhiskey," James adds.

Sirius pauses, then shrugs, "Yeah maybe, I have no idea. Vivian'll get something for you I guess."

"You know, your life is starting to look a bit like those old muggle shows about housewives," James snorts. "I'm surprised Pride is letting you get away with treating her like a piece of furniture."

Peter completely forgotten, Sirius rounds on James with a spluttered, "A piece of furniture? How am I doing that?"

James appears quite happy to have successfully insulted his friend and gleefully responds, "Oh let's see…you're the one assigned to these missions while she waits for you at home, cooking, cleaning, and doing whatever else Pride does when she's alone. I mean, do you even let her out of the house these days?"

Sirius appears rather rankled at this question and exclaims, "Well I don't keep her chained in the attic, if that's what you mean!"

James smirks, "Oh, kinky."

Sirius shoves him but alas, scuffles are second nature to them by now, honed from years of friendship and arguments. James grabs Sirius's arm at the last moment to catch his fall and the momentum sends them both to the ground. The good thing is that the fall itself isn't so awful, as the grass provides something of a cushion; the bad thing is that they are currently on a small hill that rolls its way towards the cottage beyond where they stand. The manner in which they both tumble down it is incredibly entertaining to one Remus Lupin, who bursts out into such intense laughter that it summons tears to his eyes. There is just something so rewarding about watching Sirius spit out blades of grass and James attempt to get the dirt out of his messy hair.

"Look, all I'm saying is that she's gonna end up regretting her decision to leave her family if you don't give her more options," James groans as he sits up, evidently deciding that their latest mishap isn't going to get in the way of the conversation.

Sirius snorts at him and, glowering through the gathering darkness, mutters, "She can do whatever she likes. Besides, it's not as if I could stop her anyway – hey, where's Pete?"

Remus, who had just rejoined the pair, pauses and glances behind him at where Peter had been standing before James and Sirius had spectacularly tripped their way down the hill. Sometime during this loud spectacle, Peter must have disapparated, because he is nowhere to be seen.

James raises his eyebrows and says, "…Rather rude of him to just leave like that."

Remus sighs, "You two were being a bit rude to him." He sends them a look that is clearly an attempt to make them realize the solemnity of this explanation, but it only does the exact opposite, which he supposes shouldn't surprise him. He could count on one hand the number of times such tactics have actually made James or Sirius realize the error of their ways.

"Oh come off it, Moony. You laughed too," Sirius calls him out, pushing himself off the ground. "Besides, Peter's always been too sensitive. We didn't even say anything bad."

James nods, "It's not our fault that he can't take a joke."

"He always gets so insulted whenever we bring up his mum," Sirius muses as the three of them resume the short journey to the cottage.

"If he didn't, it wouldn't be so much fun to talk about her," James snickers, then glances over at Sirius and says, "Anyway, it's called getting a job, Sirius. Maybe you should bring it up to her. It'd give her something to do."

For a moment, Sirius looks slightly confused, having momentarily forgotten about their previous conversation. Once he realizes what James is saying, he rolls his eyes at him and exclaims, "We just moved into this place, Prongs. If Vivian wants to get a job, then she hasn't said anything about it to me – why do you care, anyway?" He eyes him suspiciously.

James clears his throat and shrugs, "I don't." The words come a little too quickly to be genuine. Sirius, naturally, catches onto this. James is his best mate and he's known him for years, after all. He stares at him with prompting eyes, making it clear that he doesn't believe him and is waiting for an explanation, which grudgingly comes not long after by an impatient and slightly embarrassed James.

"Okay fine," he mutters. "I just think, you know, the whole notion of buying a cottage in the countryside and moving in together after graduation? It's all very glamorous, but I don't think it's lived up to Pride's expectations so far."

Sirius raises an eyebrow. "…I'm still not sure why you care. You're not the one living with her."

Beside them, Remus seems equally lost, which only seems to make James even more impatient.

"Right," James coughs. "It's just that Pride's grown on me a bit, you know? I mean, she's not awful, for a Slytherin."

Remus snorts out a laugh. Sirius slowly smirks.

"You're so full of it, Prongs," he says in a goading tone. "Maybe you should focus on your dear Lilyflower, yeah? Leave the Slytherin to me."

James pauses for one indignant second before rolling his eyes. "I fully intend to, Padfoot. Lily and I have started talking about getting our own place, too, you know? She was thinking about applying for a job at the Ministry to be of more use to the Order. All I'm saying is that maybe Vivian should think about doing something like that too."

Sirius shrugs, "Well, I'll talk to her about it I guess."

"And look, I went ahead and made a trip to the Auror's office earlier this week," James adds, without appearing to hear him. He digs his hand into his pocket and pulls out a heavily folded piece of paper, which he promptly shoves at Sirius. "I got us both an application."

Sirius doesn't seem to know what to say. He takes the paper and unfolds it. In the final vestiges of the evening's faint light, he glances down at the parchment with a curious expression, and murmurs, "So you really reckon we should go for it, then? What about you, Remus? Fancy being an Auror?"

Remus, who seems content to walk alongside them and quietly enjoy the dusk, points out, "I wouldn't be able to even if I wanted to apply." His voice is light, but there's a hint of bitterness to his words that cannot be ignored.

Sirius, realizing his mistake, mutters, "…Right. Sorry, mate."

Remus only shrugs, "S'alright. I had to register my situation with the Ministry after graduation. My secret's officially out, now. Not many people will want to hire me, least not the Auror office."

The other two fall silent for a moment as they mull over this, both feeling rather bad for their friend, who out of all of them deserves a proper, decent paying job. But it's true. No one will want to hire a werewolf, not even one like Remus Lupin.

"Well…I'll look this over later," Sirius mumbles, and shoves the application into his pocket. They are nearing the door to the cottage now, and as such, their conversation must come to an end. As the three approach the door, the scent of cooking lingers in the air, and the quiet sound of chatter from within the cottage catches their attention. It's strange because both of these things happen to go against two major aspects of their life since moving into the cottage, namely the fact that Vivian is a shite cook (and, alright, he isn't that great either) and that she isn't one for having company over.

Sirius tilts his head curiously as he reaches for the door. She hadn't mentioned that she was expecting anyone. The moment he pushes open the door, however, it becomes rather clear who the other person is, because James promptly barrels past Sirius before he can even take a step into his new home and loudly greets, "Lily!"

Sirius and Remus both look at each other with exasperated expressions before following their friend, who at this point has already reached Lily's side and is grinning down at her as if her presence here is a godsend.

"I didn't know you were visiting Pride today," he says. "Why didn't you mention it?" Then, backtracking, he happens to take a proper look at the table in which the two are sitting at and theatrically gasps, "Pride. Did you…did you cook this? Without burning the house down?"

Pride, who had just taken her wand out to wave her and Lily's empty plates to the sink, sends him a deadpan glower, clearly not appreciating his amused question.

"Shove off, Potter," is all she says, then glances over at Sirius and Remus and raises her eyebrows. "What is this, your second home? Why did you bring this idiot back with you, Sirius?"

Sirius smirks and leans against the kitchen doorway. Remus coughs out a laugh. Lily sits back and glances over at James. James…well.

"Just for that, maybe I should make this my second home," James sniffs, and helps himself to the chair beside Lily before pulling what looks like a casserole of some kind towards him. "Can I have a plate, Pride? And a fork. Oh, and some water."

Naturally, Pride doesn't move to accommodate him and just quirks a brow at him. The challenging expression certainly doesn't appear to intimidate James, who smiles innocently back at her as if he thinks that by pretending to be an angel, perhaps Vivian will actually believe that he has become one. Alas, she knows James Potter a little too well and is all too aware that 'an angel' is probably the last thing she would describe him as.

Sirius shakes his head at his friend and strides towards the table too, eyeing the casserole curiously. It smells rather good. Nothing's been burnt at all, which can only mean one thing. He turns to grin at Lily and says, "Looks good, Evans. Maybe you should come over and make dinner every night."

He expertly ignores the glower Vivian sends him and heads to the cabinet to get a few plates.

"So how did your mission go?" Lily asks James after sending Vivian an amused look (which isn't returned, by the by). She turns towards him as Sirius hands out the plates and sits down next to Vivian. Remus pulls up a chair too, and soon they are all digging into the dinner that Lily had made.

James groans, "Awful. Pete was seen just as we were heading into Knockturn Alley. Everything went to hell pretty quickly after that."

Around a mouthful of casserole, Sirius adds, "I think we should just take Peter off these missions entirely. Or have him transform into a rat at the very least."

Remus hums, "That's actually not a bad idea…"

A snort leaves Vivian's throat. They all glance at her, and she points out, "If he's seen transforming, he'll be fined. Heavily. You lot never registered your animagus forms with the Ministry."

The Marauders, of course, don't seem to be overly concerned, not that this surprises her.

"He wouldn't be seen," James shrugs. "And best of all, he wouldn't be seen by any of the people we've been tasked to follow, either."

Lily waves all of this away and says, "Well never mind all that. After you were seen, what happened? You didn't get into a fight, did you?" She eyes James carefully, even though he appears just as healthy as ever.

"No. We ended up leaving Knockturn Alley," Remus says.

James sighs and adds, "There's always next time though," in a voice that he probably means to be optimistic, but just ends up being muffled around his mouthful of food.

The group talks for a while longer about the botched mission before Lily stands up to take her leave, claiming that her parents will surely be worried about her prolonged absence. Besides Sirius and Vivian, the others are still living at home while they work to get on their feet. They didn't receive the same financial assistance that Sirius had, when his Uncle Alphard left him his inheritance, and don't have quite the same amount of agency or even desire, yet, to make it on their own in the world.

"I'll escort you home, Lilyflower," James jumps to offer, clamoring to his feet with a wide smile. Lily makes a show of appearing pleasantly exasperated with him, but everyone knows that she doesn't actually mind.

"Let's all meet up at the Leaky Cauldron next week," Sirius says as the pair, plus Remus, gathers their things to leave. "And you should probably invite Peter as well or else he'll think we're ignoring him."

Remus hums, "I'll swing by his place later and let him know."

James, who is gallantly escorting Lily to the door with a bit more gusto than is strictly necessary, chimes, "Great, see you then – Lily, are you sure you're not cold?"

"It's the middle of summer, James."

"I'm just making sure."

"You're nagging me."

"Nagging you? I thoroughly resent that!""

The rest of their conversation is cut off as Sirius shuts the door on them with an eyeroll and sends Vivian an exasperated look of his own. She snorts out a smile as he approaches her, though it turns into an expression of confusion when she watches him pull something out of his pocket. It's a folded up piece of parchment, heavily creased in some areas as if it had been carelessly shoved into his pocket earlier that day and promptly forgotten. Sirius unfolds it and hands it over to her without explanation, then leans against the small kitchen table and watches her scan through it as if he is heavily anticipating her reaction.

Upon her scan of the page, it's apparent that the parchment is in fact an application which has yet to be filled out. She looks back up at Sirius and muses, "…An Auror?"

Sirius shoves his hands into his now empty pockets and shrugs, appearing fairly laidback. His voice, though, gives his anticipation away. "James went to the Ministry to pick it up. He's planning on filling one out, too." Then, pausing, he clears his throat and quickly asks, "What do you think?"

That he seems to find her opinion important and even necessary is somewhat flattering in a way she can't quite describe. Only a year ago, he wouldn't have given any such consideration to her, and doubtlessly would have laughed at the thought that he one day would. But it's clear that he cares what she thinks, because he watches her with eyes that seem darker in the quiet light of the several candles that float in the air above them, illuminating the now-blackening night that darkens the house.

Vivian shrugs. Yes, she's a bit flattered. She's also a bit confused as to why her opinion matters to him so much. Sirius has always done whatever he thinks is best, regardless of what other people think.

"It's what you wanted to do with your life, isn't it?" she asks. "So do it."

For some reason, he seems surprised at her immediate acceptance. This confuses her even more. Vivian eyes him with a raised brow and wonders, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Sirius pauses for half a second, thoughts swirling with James's words from before, and slowly says, "I just…er…Vivian, are you…happy here? With me?"

That last question seems even more cautious than the first, the words piled onto the end of it as if they are a last-minute addition to an already bewildering enquiry. She stares at him in quiet surprise that he would even ask at all, especially since they had only just moved in to begin with, and responds, "Yes. Why, do you think I'd rather be back at my family's manor, getting ready to marry Adrian Mulciber?"

The reminder makes him purse his mouth in a thoughtful sort of way. He studies her closely before muttering, "It's just…I know things haven't been easy for you, letting go of your old life so quickly and all…and James mentioned that Lily was thinking of applying to St. Mungo's and I thought maybe you wanted to get a job too – not that you need to or anything, I've got enough money from my uncle and if I get a job as an Auror then – "

"Sirius. You're rambling," Vivian informs him, and mercifully cuts him off. He's rather thankful for it, to be honest, because he isn't really accustomed to being so unsure.

He sends her a reticent smile and says, "Right. James thought I should talk to you about it." He shrugs, and his smile grows a touch more genuine when Vivian begins to glower at this.

"Potter should keep his nose out of our business," she scoffs, handing back the application. Sirius takes it and folds it back up, though he doesn't take his eyes off of her as she sighs, "I chose this, Sirius. I knew it wasn't going to be easy but this is what I want."

The smile he sends her then is a quiet mixture of relief and boyish happiness, which shines through his eyes so thoroughly that Vivian can't help but scoff out a smile in response.