Details/Notes: I love seeing wacky hijinks between Lily and the Marauders. I wrote this today when it was literally too hot to walk out the door. I hope everyone enjoys reading, and please review! I love the praise and take the concrit to heart. Before anyone asks, my silly reasoning for why James and co. do not have the cloak is they are trying to keep their sneaking off a secret from Remus. Which is silly, but so is this story.

Around the Corner

Being a tale of mystery and deception in the halls of Hogwarts circa 1975.

In the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry there lies a well-known but little talked about impossibility, having to do with the fact that every single student since the school's inception has spent at least one night out of bed past curfew desperately jogging up and down staircases, hoping to avoid the caretaker of the time.

It's a tradition passed down from father to son, mother to daughter, and amongst friends, spawned from so many stories containing more exciting chases, magical creatures, narrow escapes, and quick thinking than any fantasy adventure novel or spy film. How could an eleven year old resist when faced with those sorts of promises?

(Perhaps if they brought back the thumbscrews, but truly, that's the worst sort of wishful thinking.)

The best stories are always told by those students that happen to run into each other during these early morning escapades, because as is always so, the potential for embarrassment, trials, and tribulations is directly proportionate to the number of people involved.

It's even better than all of that when three of the Marauders, Lily Evans and her current boyfriend, and the Slytherins all decide to meet up at half past one in the morning in the Charms corridor.

Used here, the word 'decide' implies that none of said parties had much choice in the matter, and of course, that it was all Sirius Black's fault.

It was indeed his idea that he, James, and Peter get some animagus practice in on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, and that did, in fact, lead them to stumbling across Evans when making their way back, but to be technical about it, the decision to become animagi in the first place was James', so it was really all his fault.

Or maybe it was Peter's for failing to stop James when he decided to tackle Sirius when Sirius refused to tell him what was around that corner.

(It was Lily Evans with her tongue rather deep down the throat of Eddie Jones, who was at the time a rather handsome, brown-haired quidditch captain in his fifth year. Prefect. Ravenclaw house. Studious but still ready to have fun. In effect, everything that Lily rather wished James could be.)

No matter who the fault ended up lying with in the end, at that moment it didn't much matter, because James was kicking Sirius in the shins, Sirius was making some interesting sounds of pain, and Peter was trying frantically to get them to lay off each other without making too much more noise.

And that was how Jones found them.

He took in the scene remarkably quickly, but that didn't mean it made any sense to him. It was a much rarer thing to find members of the same house hitting each other, after all. So he did what anyone would do; pulled them off each other and asked, "What in Merlin's name is going on here?"

The effect would probably have worked better if his tie wasn't missing, his shirt was tucked back in, and if he didn't have a glittery spot of lip gloss on his cheek.

Evans darting around the corner a second later with said missing tie clutched in her hand, and her hair mysteriously mussed didn't help much either.

As it was, Peter ran up to the limit of his nervousness and broke down in hysterical laughter. Sirius quickly joined him.

James, on the other hand, was slowly turning an angry red about the neck and ears, pulling himself to his feet, and looking like he wanted to strangle Jones right then and there.

"I could ask you the same question," he said tightly, fisting his hands at his sides, and glaring.

That would have been more effective if his glasses weren't falling off his nose. Jones looked at him with a rather mystified expression, clearing wondering why some scrappy forth year was trying to intimidate him when he was the one in trouble.

Lily, who was well versed in the ways of James Potter, crossed her arms, and replied, "Nothing that concerns you."

Peter and Sirius' laughter had died off somewhere in this span of time, and they were looking to and from one another, clearly trying to decide if it was best to leave their idiotic, love-stuck friend to his own fate.

Sirius was sticking firmly by James, whereas Peter was carefully nudging his side and pointing franticly towards the other end of the corridor, the direction they had just come from.

"Shove off, Peter," Sirius whispered, rolling his eyes.

Peter huffed in frustration, craning his neck and peering into the dusky space behind him as if looking for something.

(He was.

Slytherins have an unexplained tendency to cling to the shadows wherever they walk.)

In the centre ring, James and Lily were now in the midst of one of their quite famous (at least around Gryffindor Tower) shouting matches. Eddie had a soothing hand on Lily's shoulder and was trying to get them both to shut up.

"Come on, Lily, let's just get out of here. Let them be found by a professor and get detention," he said quickly, seeing his spot as James paused for breath.

"We can't just leave!" Evans said, tossing her hair, and focusing a green-eyed glare at James. "He'll have this spread all across the school tomorrow morning!"

"I would not!"

"Right."

"I wouldn't. I love you, Lily! I wouldn't throw your reputation out the window." This might have been taken sincerely by the girl in question had James not continued by saying, "Even if you are running around with some stupid Ravenclaw."

Jones' hands formed fists now. "What are you, her stalker?"

"No, he's just pathetic," Lily answered before James got a chance. "It isn't any business of yours who I run around with, Potter."

"S-Sirius, I swear there's someone along that wall," Peter was meanwhile trying to explain his feelings to Sirius, who looked sceptical at best.

He craned his neck in the direction Peter specified. "I don't see anything."

"It's probably someone looking to get all of us in trouble. W-we should really just get out of here."

"Aw, come on, Pete. Don't you want to see James get his face punched in?" Sirius was grinning wolfishly, and tuning most of his attention to Potter and Jones.

"If anyone's getting their face punched in, it's him!" James shouted in reply, and Peter winced as the sound echoed down the corridor.

"We are so dead," he whimpered, his head dropped down into his hands.

"Well, listen to this. For once the little mouse is right about something!" A voice, female and grating said from the shadows behind the group.

Another voice, male, guffawed in laughter.

In reply, a flurry of shouts and curses ranging from "Merlin!" to Sirius exclamation of "Fuckin' shit!" to Evans' sharp intake of breath.

Sirius was the first, naturally, to recognise who exactly was accosting them. "Well, well, well. Bella, darling cousin. Shouldn't you be off torturing kittens?"

"The sound of you screaming's a lot nicer than a bloody cat, Black," a tall, ruggedly mean looking boy snapped, arms crossed and scowling down at Sirius.

Sirius, being an idiot, continued to taunt them. "Oh, and look! You brought your little boyfriend. How sweet! When the engagement party, Trixie? I simply must attend!"

"Shut the fuck up, you worthless blood-traitor!" Bellatrix was already reaching into her robes for her wand.

"Hey!" Jones interrupted, "There's no need for that kind of language. I'm the prefect here and you're all out of bed after curfew."

"Like we're gonna listen to some pansy Ravenclaw," Lestrange laughed mockingly, also reaching for his wand.

Sirius and James followed their opponents' lead, drawing their wands and pointing them at the Slytherins. Peter reluctantly followed suit.

"We can't ever leave before we get into trouble, can we?" he asked desperately, not expecting an answer.

James grinned. "Where's the fun in that. Besides," his voice grew serious, "they can't say that kind of shit and get away with it."

"Like you're any better, Potter! I know it was you who hexed Severus last week. You're intolerable." Lily had her arms crossed, and was still glaring at James, though she was careful to stay out of range in case either of the Blacks decided to start flinging curses instead of taunts.

"Who gave you permission to talk, mudblood? Stay out of it!" Bellatrix hissed, her voice turning ugly as she trained her wand on Lily.

Lily's jaw clenched, and her eyes narrowed to deadly green slits. "What did you call me?"

"Ooh, she's got spark! How cute!" Rodolphus advanced threateningly on her, wand swishing through the air in preparation to curse her.

James, fortunately or unfortunately, was quicker on the uptake. "Expelliarmus!" The older boy's wand flew from his hand as he smashed into the wall.

"You little shits!" Bellatrix screeched. "You'll pay for that!"

Peter swallowed, tugged James and Sirius' robes desperately, and demanded, "Now can we run?!"

Sirius was staring in fascination as Lestrange struggled to his feet, clutching his head. He then took in the form of his livid, advancing cousin, wand outstretched and curse forming on her lips. "Maybe you've got the right idea, Pete!"

"Run!" James shouted, and the three boys took off as quick as lightning down the corridor.

Lily also took the suggestion to heart, regardless of her feelings for the Marauders, and quickly grabbed Eddie's hand and shot off in the opposite direction.

Running four flights of stairs and too many hallways to count was as good a distraction as could be from the thought that James Potter had just saved her from an embarrassing, if not potential harmful, curse.

She squeezed Eddie's hand tighter, but when they parted ways a corridor from Gryffindor Tower, she thought maybe, maybe, she should thank James the next day.

That changed when the next afternoon, James and Sirius, with a spot of help from Remus and Peter, ended up causing every single cauldron to explode simultaneously during Potions class.

Her hair, along with everyone else's, was green for a grand total of forty hours, and Lily was back to being James Potter's mortal enemy.

For another couple of years, anyway.

This was far from the last time the Marauders and Lily Evans would cross paths when they really should be sleeping. Remus had tried to pull a fast one every now and then, citing that he was just patrolling and would be taking points from them straight away.

Lily never believed that.

There was another time when she found them all trudging out of the forest just as dawn broke over the horizon, Sirius and James supporting Remus between them while Peter fretted worriedly beside them. She had been ready to run to the Headmaster when she saw the horrible scratches across Remus' face and Sirius' arms, but the urge had died abruptly as Remus' eyes fluttered open and he gave a short, rough laugh, encouraged by the other three.

Something about that scene made her heart swell in her chest, and she had a strange feeling that those four were better friends than anyone at Hogwarts knew, despite all of their oddities and knack for attracting trouble.

End.

Ending Notes: Thank you for reading, everyone, and I hope you enjoyed! Please tell me your thoughts by clicking the lovely review button to your left.