James walked coolly down the hallway after making the last rounds of the night. When he reached the Tower, he opened the door, but instead of entering the common room, he simply held it open for a few moments before shutting it again.

"Everything clear?" a voice squeaked out of nowhere as James made his way toward the staircase. There was a muffled grunt like someone being elbowed in the ribs.

"Don't worry, Pete," James said, pulling the Invisibility Cloak from his friends' heads. "Filch is drinking in his office like he always does right about now, and every other teacher doesn't start rounds for another hour." He tucked the Cloak under his arm, checked his watch, and picked up his pace. "C'mon. The pub's going to be packed if we don't get through the passage soon."

The boys hurried behind James until they reached the statue of the One-Eyed Witch. Peter was first through. While he was struggling down the narrow passway, Sirius whispered to James, "So where's Evans? If she's around, you know she'll bust our asses, and my ass just doesn't need it." Peter hit bottom with a thud, and Remus slid down easily behind him.

James looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't know. She wasn't on her rounds so I assumed she was going to take them later. She wasn't in the common room?"

Sirius climbed onto the slide and shook his head. "Not that I saw, mate, but you never know with that one. She's likely recording us right now, waiting to turn it into McGonagall in the morning."

He pushed off, and James stifled a laugh. He was still chuckling to himself when he heard Sirius hit bottom like always and crash into the opposite wall. He never made the landing gracefully, but this time there was an extra commotion and a strange squeal. James threw both legs over the slide and catapulted down.

"What's going on–" he started to say when Remus lit his wand and the tight passage was cast into light. Remus and Peter stood next to James with Sirius at their feet, still on the ground. He had his wand outstretched, but his arm still shook a little with surprise. James shifted his gaze across the tunnel and nearly burst with laughter.

"Evans?" he croaked out. "What the hell are you doing here?" She was pressed against the rock, her face completely flushed.

"Apparently, Potter–" she tried to bite out, but her words caught in her throat so that she sounded breathless. "Apparently, we both were doing the same thing." When James just looked at her dumbly, she added, "Escaping."

"You're sneaking out?" Sirius said, standing up at last. "I can't believe it. Lily Evans is sneaking out. I think the world is ending." He laughed hardily, and Peter joined in. Remus still stood frozen in shock.

"Is it really that hard to believe?" Lily effectively huffed, pushing off the wall and continuing toward Honeydukes.

The boys stared after her until she was a couple meters away. "Wait!" James called, sprinting to catch up with her. She looked at him angrily and picked up her pace. "Can't you slow down?" he asked.

"Not if I'm going to get where I'm going on time," she said. "This passage takes at least half an hour at a good clip."

James stumbled a little and gave her a surprised look. "You've been in here before?" Behind them, the boys started to follow at their leisure.

"Yes, I have. Are you having trouble with the possiblity that I might break a couple rules every once in a while?" she demanded, turning to look at him and slowing down.

James almost laughed in her face. "This isn't a couple rules, Evans. This might be the whole rule book being thrown out the window."

"Well, whatever it is. I've done it enough to know I'm going to be late."

James smiled. "Late for what?"

Lily was silent for a while, and James started to think that she was going to ignore him for the rest of the journey. The only sound in the stone passageway was Sirius' sporadic snorts and murmurs of, "Lily Evans sneaking out. With us. How rich."

Finally she broke the silence. "I'm meeting my cousin Andy in London, and we're going to a ra–" She stopped herself and exhaled sharply. "We're going to a party."

"You're Apparating!" James accused, grinning ear to ear. "You really are out to break all the rules."

"I'm not breaking a rule by Apparating. I have my license; it's perfectly legal." She held her head high, proud as always of being in the right.

James had to think of some way to bring her off her cloud; he was not ashamed to admit that Lily was best when served angry. "Well," he began, searching for the perfect remark and finding it. "You know, the guys and I, we all have our licenses, and we were only going to the Hogshead for a couple drinks, but what do you say if we tag along?"

Lily considered it for a moment, which was further than James thought the idea would go, then she slowly nodded her head. "I think it'd be okay, but you can't tell anyone about what happens tonight. Got it?" she demanded, deathly serious.

James' smile grew bigger, and he quickly said, "Yeah, whatever you want. We're in. So where's this party?"

"Actually, I never know until we get there," she admitted. "It's sort of this Muggle thing that moves around so it doesn't get busted by the police."

"Like a rave?" James asked absentmindedly. Lily looked at him, startled, her eyes wide like a deer in headlights. He raised an eyebrow and bit his lip. "It is a rave, isn't it?" he said with schoolboy delight.

Lily shot a quick glance behind them. The boys were lagging by at least five meters. "Basically."

James jumped as far as he could into the air in excitement. "So have you ever done anything at these raves?" he asked, knowing he was pushing her past where she was comfortable.

"No," she answered curtly, "but we have to hurry. Andy is going to be in the alley in fifteen minutes. Go tell your minions that you're coming along."

James ran back to the Marauders without even a word and told them everything Lily had just told him. In a minute they were all by her side, asking questions at an absurdly fast rate. "Shut- up!" she nearly screamed, ending their bombardment. "If you want to go at all, we're going to have to run. You wasted so much of my time back there." With grins plastered on their faces, the boys set off, leaving Peter behind with Lily. She started after them, but when she did not hear footsteps behind her, she turned her head and yelled, "You're coming, aren't you, Peter?"

The pudgy boy looked at her and the quickly disappearing figures in the distance. He stole a glance behind him at the long, dark tunnel. "Yeah," he squeaked, starting to run at a slow and wobbly pace. "I hate running, though."

Ten minutes later, James pulled Lily into the basement of Honeydukes. The boys stood gathered around her, looking dishelved but happy, except for Peter. He was hunched over a barrel of caramels, gasping for air and still murmuring his newly adopted mantra, "I... hate... running." As soon as he straightened up and gave his friends a sweaty nod, the boys turned instinctively for the stairs, but Lily grabbed Sirius' arm.

"There's no need to risk going upstairs," she whispered, looking up as though she could see through the wooden beams. "We can Apparate right here, but first I need to change."

James saw Sirius give her a strange look. "Don't you only own jeans and sweaters?" he asked, doubtfully. Silently, James agreed. He really could not remember a time when Lily did not wear anything besides except, of course, for the school uniform.

Lily pulled out a very small bundle of clothes and said, "Do you honestly think I'd go to a rave like this?" At their raised eyebrows, she rolled her eyes. "I'll be right back," she explained, slipping through a small door behind a stack of pallets.

The boys looked at each other and spontaneously started to alter their outfits. James and Sirius were already in jeans, but they still wore their white button-down shirts. Sirius undid the first three buttons, giving him the bad-boy look for which he was infamous, and James just slipped out of his. His plain white undershirt looked striking with his dark pants and flat trainers. Remus already had on a pair of long shorts and a t-shirt. Peter, still wearing his slacks and button-down with a old bomber coat, was the only one who couldn't figure out how to change his clothing so he just took off his jacket.

Two minutes later, Lily stepped from the bathroom in a green sequence halter-top and a lithe skirt that hit mid-thigh. Green pumps that matched her top clicked against the cold, flagstone floor even though she tried her best to step carefully. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a loose bun, and her whole outfit exuded youthfulness and energy. Sirius dug an elbow into James' side and whispered, "Good luck, mate."

Lily walked over, completely unaware of James' near incoherent state. "Have you guys used Side-Along before?" she asked.

"Yeah," Remus spoke for the group. "It's going to be hard with this many people though, isn't it?"

Lily shook her head. "Not really. They say you shouldn't do it, but it's easy. Just think of an alley, any alley, then try to think of my alley. I'll concentrate for all of us, but you can't leave the magic to me. I won't have energy left if you do." They all stood in a straight line with Lily in the middle between James and Remus. James jolted out of his catatonic state as Lily snaked her arm around his waist. She looked at him oddly but when he did not look back continued with her instructions. "Now just grab the person next to you and hold tight. On the count of three..." They wrapped their arms around each other and stood still for a moment.

"1," she counted off slowly, beginning to concentrate on the alley that she had met Andy in so many times before.

"2." The boys crunched together instictively and held their eyes shut tight.

"3." Each of them spun on their heels, and in a moment, they were rushing through space towards a nearly deserted alley in West London.