Disclamer: None of the characters or places are mine (sadly, I'd like me some Marauders) they belong to J.K. Rowling.
A/N - First multi chapter fic. First published anything. Yay! Big thanks to AJ (Tumblrs moonyfied) for beta-ing and helping me as a first time writer with this chapter! Please review.
Cheers, Chelle.
"Lily!" Petunia screeched through her sister's bedroom door, "Lily, your freak friends are here!"
Lily rolled over in her bed with a groan, squinting at the watch on her bedside table, 9 o'clock. There was the sound of a door slamming - Petunia's, she thought – and then music coming from the lounge room.
"Evans, get your arse down here!" Marlene yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Lily grinned and jumped out of bed, almost tripping over the books and clothes strewn over the floor, and was down stairs in seconds. Three trunks were stacked on top of hers in the hall next to two heavy-looking bags. Lily walked into the kitchen where Marlene was making coffee.
"Hey," She said. "I can make breakfast."
"No you can't." Marlene replied, "Unless you're wearing that on the train." She grinned, pointing at Lily's oversized shirt and pyjama shorts.
"Probably should go get changed huh?" She laughed. "Are Alice and Doe in the lounge room?"
"You know Dorcas is, who else plays The Beatles this loud at nine in the morning?" Marlene grinned. "Alice is having breakfast with the Longbottoms."
"Then whose trunk is in the hall?" Lily asked slowly.
"Mine," came a deep voice from behind her, making her jump and whirl around. "Better go get changed, Evans, we have to leave before ten." Sirius smirked. Lily grinned back at him, saluted, and dashed out of the kitchen.
By the time Lily came back downstairs, drying her wet hair with a towel, there were three more trunks stacked beside the first pile. She followed the loud laughter into the kitchen where everyone was sitting around the table drinking coffee and tea. Lily stopped in the doorway and looked around the table; Sirius and Marlene were sitting at the far end of the table with her dad laughing while Dorcas and Benjy Fenwick had an intense and very loud argument about how the next DADA teacher would go and Remus Lupin and James Potter were commentating. After a while she looked up at the clock on the wall then caught her father's eye and tapped her watch.
"Alright guys, time to go." He said abruptly, standing up. The conversations kept going as everyone made their way out of the house.
"Hang on, I'll be right back, I've just got to get something." Lily said, digging through the bag slung over her shoulder. "Nobody let Sirius or Dorcas drive!" She called as she ran up the stairs.
The pale blue walls of Lily's bedroom were washed out to an almost-white by the morning sun which made everything seem much brighter than it actually was. Lily dug through the bottom drawer of her desk, humming to herself softly until she found a small box and wedged it under her arm so she could carry her cat, Felix, down in his basket.
"He's cute." James said, making her jump. "I'll carry him down." He picked up the large wicker basket and scratched between the kitten's ears.
"Thanks." Lily mumbled, brushing past him. James furrowed his brow before following her out.
"So remind me again why neither I nor Sirius could drive." Dorcas inquired once they were all wedged into the car- Marlene's mother had put an extension charm on it so it looked like normal but could fit up to ten people plus luggage- with Lily, Benjy and James in the front seat with Mr Evans driving and Marlene, Sirius, Remus and Dorcas in the back.
"Because," Lily said, scratching Felix's ears while he slept, "You concentrate more on singing than driving and Sirius is… well Sirius."
"I'm feeling the love, Evans." Sirius said, clutching his chest in mock hurt.
Lily kissed her father on the cheek, "Take care of yourself." She said before ducking out of the car.
"Thanks, Mr Evans!" They all called, pushing the trolleys into the crowded station.
"Don't these people know that it's rude to stare?" Lily muttered.
"Seven teenagers walking through a train station together with trunks and owls, yeah, why would they stare?" Benjy said.
"Maybe they're just amazed at how good looking Prongs and I are," Sirius shrugged.
Dorcas rolled her eyes, "Come on. I want to get a good compartment," she muttered, walking faster.
It seemed to be a lot noisier on platform 9¾ than it was back through the barrier; everyone was catching up after having not seen each other for the past three months.
"James!" a very high pitched voice squealed, Lily looked over her shoulder just in time to see a small blond sauntering up to James and start batting her eyelashes and feeling his biceps.
Lily made a gagging noise in the back of her throat and stormed off.
His arm encircled her waist as he leant into her, this was it, these few minutes alone could change everything. Lily could hear her heart pounding in her ears, she didn't realise that she was holding her breath until he kissed her. It wasn't a kiss that anyone would think they'd have, it wasn't hard and rough and passionate, it was soft and timid. She had seen James kiss girls before (much to her disliking) and none of them had been like this, not a single one. As she kissed back slowly she thought that maybe he really did feel differently towards her, maybe it wasn't all lust. The door opened and there stood Marlene and Sirius, their mouths wide open. Lily pulled away from James so hard that she backed into the bookcase they were in standing front of. She mumbled an excuse to leave and was out of the room before anyone could utter a single word.
"Lily." Dorcas said, sitting across from her in their compartment. "Are you okay?" She asked quietly. Lily looked up and nodded, forcing a smile to form on her lips. Marlene was staring at her, she could feel it.
"I'm going to the prefects meeting," Lily said, standing up, "make sure Felix doesn't run out the door when someone comes in." And with that she was gone.
Marlene watched her walk down the corridor. "She kissed James," She said suddenly.
"What?" Dorcas yelped, "When? Where?"
"In the study last Friday. Lily doesn't want anyone to know so you can't say anything, okay?"
"Okay."
"Did you talk to her?" Sirius asked James after Remus had gone to the prefects meeting.
James shook his head, "I reckon she's trying to avoid me, I mean why wouldn't she? Merlin, why did Pete have to stay in Hogsmeade." He whined, "We can't pull a good prank without him here, we'll definitely get noticed."
Sirius scratched his chin, "How many decks of exploding snap does it take to blow up a train compartment?"
James raised his brows, a grin tugging at his lips.
"I am so hungry." Dorcas groaned, flipping through the morning edition of the Prophet she hadn't gotten to reading that morning.
"You're always hungry." Marlene remarked from her seat on the floor where she was playing with Felix.
Dorcas rolled her eyes just as the compartment door swung open emitting Mary Macdonald, a curvy, tanned girl with thick, dark brown hair and eyes the colour of chocolate. Her hair was slightly messy at the back and her cheeks were flushed.
"Edgar Bones is a great snog." She said, sitting down and readjusting her skirt.
"Edgar Bones is a prat." Marlene said, looking up at her, "Great keeper, but still a prat,"
Mary rolled her eyes and had just opened her mouth to reply when there was a sound like a gun shot that made the glass in the door and windows rattle. Dorcas opened the door and stuck her head out into the corridor, the smell of burning parchment and cigarette smoke instantly filling her nostrils. Thick blue smoke was wafting from a compartment three doors up.
"I think Potter and Black tried to blow up the train." She said over her shoulder.
The three girls were out the door in seconds, all laughing harder than the next, and up to the scorched compartment before everyone else. The two boys stood in the middle of the compartment, clothes charred, James was missing half an eyebrow and the ends of Sirius' sleek hair were singed and smoking.
"What the hell did you do?" Frank Longbottom demanded over the roaring laughter in the corridor. Marlene could see the Head Boy badge pinned to his robes, it gleamed as bright as the laughter in his eyes when it caught in the light.
"Well you see we- is that a HEAD BOY BADGE LONGBOTTOM?" Sirius bellowed, "You've finally given out on us!"
Frank put his hands up as if surrendering, "What can I say? Someone has to keep you lot in line."
James snorted, "I'm sure you'll do a great job at that."
"I should at least make it look like I try," Frank shrugged, "make sure you get this mess cleaned up." He
finished, attempting to usher the crowd back to their compartments.
Marlene leant against the splintered doorway of the boys' compartment, a single eyebrow raised.
James shrugged, "We got bored."
"So you tried to blow up the train?" Dorcas snickered.
"We prefer to call it Ultimate Exploding Snap." Sirius countered.
"Oh Merlin," A voice sounded from behind the girls, Remus was staring wide eyed at the blackened compartment and his two fellow Marauders. "Ultimate Exploding Snap?"
"Ah, Moony, we were wondering how long that meeting was going to take," James smirked.
"We were hoping you could help us with this beauty." Sirius concluded, gesturing to the compartment.
"Longbottom told us to clear it up." With a simultaneous wave of his and James' wands the compartment started righting itself.
"Where's Lily?" Mary asked Remus.
"She's got patrols with Amelia Bones 'til 1."
"Maybe you guys should share our compartment," Marlene said, "just in case you try to blow something else up."
They all agreed and made their way to the girls' compartment, upon arriving Marlene stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the floor of the compartment. The very bare, cat-less floor.
"Shit." She muttered.
"Felix!" Dorcas yelled, "Mary did you pick him up?"
"No."
"You lost Lily's cat? We have to find him before she comes back!"
"Right," James said. "We'll find him quicker if we strategize."
"And what do you propose Mr. I'm-The-Leader-Because-I'm-Quidditch-Captain-And-B etter-Than-You?" Marlene asked, her voice dripping with disdain.
"Well, Bones is a Ravenclaw right? Dorcas is pretty friendly with them, and Remus is another prefect, so they can distract Evans while Mary goes asking around the compartments if anyone has seen him and you, Pads and I look."
She nodded, "That turned out better than I thought. Okay, hang on though, I think I have something that can help." She stood on the seat and pulled down Lily's bag from on top of her trunk and started emptying out the contents. She finally pulled out a large wooden box and opened it. It was the box, James noticed, that Lily had grabbed from her room that morning, it was full of polaroid photos, some with captions, others moving, all of people, animals or places. Lily got a bit enthusiastic when it came to taking pictures, she absolutely loved it. After flipping through dozens of pictures of the group from that summer, Marlene came to one that had been taken a little more recently; it was a little black fluffy figure with piercing green eyes looking up at the camera, Felix.
"Here," She gave the picture to Mary, "Ask if anyone has seen him."
"I can't believe you lost Evans' cat." Sirius snickered, patting Marlene on the back, earning a punch to the chest.
"Shut up. Let's just go."
They all nodded and headed their respective ways.
"Lily is going to kill me," Marlene muttered, "he could be anywhere."
"Felix." James called between whistles, "We'll find him."
"Yeah," Sirius said, "or we can get Evans another cat."
"No." Marlene said, smacking him on the back of the head. "This is Lily we're talking about, she'd notice. Anyway, I can't do that to her."
James nodded. "She would notice, Padfoot. Lily notices all the little details that we don't, she's… special."
Sirius snorted derisively, earning an elbow to the ribs.
Mary slid open the door to the third compartment full of fourth years she had been to that afternoon. "Have you seen this cat?" She asked, holding up the picture.
"No." One of them, a short girl with curly almost-black hair, said.
"Why would we have?" A boy beside her snapped, he had the same dark hair and intense blue eyes. Her brother maybe, Mary thought.
"No need to get snippy," she muttered sliding the door closed with a click.
"Oi, Macdonald!" Two voices called in unison from down the hall.
Mary turned to find her path impeded by the Prewett brothers.
"How's it going, Mary?" Fabian asked.
"You look a little flustered," Gideon added.
"Haven't seen Felix, have you?" She asked.
"Felix?"
"Lily's cat?"
Mary nodded, "We've lost him." She said quietly.
"Nah, we haven't," Gideon said.
"But we'll keep a lookout for him." Fabian finished, moving out of Mary's way.
"Thanks." She said, moving to open the next door.
"Good holiday?" Remus asked, opening the door to the next carriage.
Dorcas shrugged. "I've had worse," She mumbled, moving past him. "Went to France with my mother for a month, stayed with dad and then alternated between Marlene's, Lily's and James' for the last month, though you already know all that because you asked me the same question last week when we went to London."
"Did I?" He squinted out the window at the cloudy sky. "Sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind."
"We all do." She mumbled.
"You know what I mean, Doe," He sighed. "I- "
"I know, I know." She cut him off, brushing her fingers against his arm. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah." Remus mumbled, brushing her off.
"Remus," She pleaded, pulling him to the side. "I didn't mean it like that. Really. I know you had a hard time over the summer, but we're back, everything's going back to normal again." She whispered, running a finger along a new, thin pink scar reaching down his neck. She rose up on her toes and leant in, eyes half closed, lips parted slightly.
Remus looked down at her, his eyes wide, was she about to kiss him? Merlin, she was going to kiss him!
"Um…" He moved away from her, continuing their path down the hall, "We should keep going."
Dorcas' face fell, her eyes going wide, she steadied herself against the window for a minute, collecting herself, before following him at a slower pace. "Yeah." She muttered.
They continued through several more carriages in silence before they finally came across Lily and Amelia. Both Dorcas and Remus stopped; there, wedged into the crook of Lily's arm was Felix, his large, green eyes staring at them.
"Looking for somebody?" Lily asked, jerking her chin towards Felix.
"Well, not really. Marlene, Sirius, James and Mary are. We were sent to distract you." Dorcas said in a rush.
Remus frowned, "How did you find him?"
"He found us, actually." Amelia said, scratching the cats head.
Lily nodded. "Ever since I got him he's had to go everywhere with me. I think he thinks he needs to protect me."
"Cute," Dorcas mumbled, "I better go find the others." She turned and was down the corridor before anyone could say anything.
Amelia frowned, "Something's up. I better go see if she's okay, I'll see you later, Lily, Remus," She nodded and headed off after Dorcas.
"She tried to kiss me, Lily." Remus said nervously.
"Dorcas?" Lily's face lit up. "Did you kiss her?"
He shook his head, "I just panicked and completely just- I brushed her off and walked away."
Lily frowned at him, "She probably thinks that you're not interested now."
"But I am!"
"I know that, she obviously doesn't. It's your move, Remus." She sighed. "Come on, it's after one, Benjy should have started with Bertha by now."
"Poor bloke."
"Yeah."
By the time they got back to the girls compartment the rest of the group was there.
"Lily I'm so sorry," Marlene said, getting up. "I should have picked him up."
"Mar, it's okay. Really. Why do you only have one and a half eyebrows, Potter?"
"Ultimate Exploding Snap." Sirius piped up.
"Ultimate exploding snap?"
"Yeah, we sort of blew the compartment up so we have to stay here because they don't trust us." James pointed to the girls sitting opposite him.
"Right." Lily mumbled, sitting down on the floor under the window and putting Felix in his basket.
"God, I'm starving, when does the Trolley Lady come around?" Dorcas asked.
Lily shrugged, "Where's Amelia?"
"She went back to her compartment once we'd found this lot."
"Oh." She nodded and closed her eyes. "Somebody wake me when the Trolley Lady comes by, and if Felix wakes up don't lose him again."
"Evans, you can't sleep on the floor." Sirius said.
"Yes I can." She said absently.
Before Sirius could retort she was asleep, "Merlin, what I would give to be able to fall asleep like that." He muttered.
Lily woke to laughter and the smell of pumpkin pasties, a large hand was holding one right under her nose. Her face was resting on something warm and soft, it smelt so good and a little familiar. Once the hand had moved she noticed that she was lying against the seat between someone's legs. Lily sat up quickly, looking up at James who was holding a pasty out to her.
"I told you to wake me up when she came." She mumbled, taking it from him. "How long was I asleep for?"
"A few hours," Marlene said, glancing out the window. "We had to hunt her down, must have missed her when we were out looking for Felix. We should be there in an hour or two."
Lily bit into the pasty just as realisation washed over her. "Crap!" She said, mouth full. She got up and stepped onto the expanse of seat between James and Remus. "I haven't taken any pictures all day!" She rummaged through her trunk until she found her camera nestled amongst her robes. She pulled it out and took a picture of Marlene and Sirius from where she was. "Where's Mary?"
"I think she went to see Edgar, we're sure that they're shagging but we don't know if it's anything other than that, she hasn't told us anything." Dorcas said from her spot in the far corner of the opposite seat, her knees were pulled up to her chest, a book balanced on top of them.
"Anything but that he's a good snog." Marlene added.
"I'm sure she'd say that," Lily said, sitting down between James and Remus and picking up the jacket that she was using as a pillow. "She only snogs guys who are good snogs." She wrapped the jacket around her shoulders, turned the camera around and took a photo of herself and Remus.
"Lily!" He whined.
"But Remus, you're too cute not to take pictures of." She grinned, snapping one of Dorcas who had continued reading, then took a few of herself pulling faces and then three of James.
"You look like a little kid on their first visit to Honeydukes." He teased.
She snapped a few more of herself pulling faces. "That's because it's fun." She grinned, there was now a small pile of pictures in her lap.
After a while the boys left to get changed, and with 15 minutes until they arrived at Hogsmeade station so did the girls.
"Do you really think they'll let you wear them?" Marlene asked, glancing at Dorcas' new, bright red Doc Martens.
Doe shrugged, "It's house pride, and anyway, I can change the colour. I might charm them to roar or something at the first match we play, what do you think?"
There was a knock from the other side of the door, "Are you decent?" Remus called.
"Are we ever?" Lily laughed, taking a photo of Dorcas tying her shoes. She was a bit weird, Dorcas, definitely the most unique of the 6th year Gryffindor girls, she always managed to get off for defiling the school dress code, wearing thigh-high stripy socks with (usually) bright coloured pair of boots and a skirt, too short to be considered sensible but too long to be considered slutty or revealing, that made her legs (which went on for miles) seem even longer, and she always managed to have different coloured streaks in her hair and different coloured nail polish every day. Dorcas definitely out-shone Marlene, Mary, Alice and Lily in that department.
The door slid open just as the photo fully developed, "Damn," Sirius grinned, "we were hoping to catch you still in the process of changing."
"Funny," Lily said, snapping a picture of the boys as the train jolted to a stop. "C'mon, let's go," She levitated her trunk behind her and picked up Felix's basket. "Don't want to miss the carriages, do you?"
By the time they got off the train and had all their luggage on a carriage all the first years had gone and everyone else was flooding onto the platform.
"Just go talk to her," Lily mumbled to Remus, noticing him watching her friend.
"You go talk to James," Came his reply.
"You know about that?"
"Everyone does." Marlene said, taking Lily's trunk.
Before Lily could say anything James was by her side. "Evans, we need to talk."
"I know."
"How about we walk up to the castle? I think we have a lot to talk about."
"Yeah, okay." She said, picking Felix up from his perch on Marlene's trunk. James led her along the edge of the lake, away from the track the carriages would take.
"Oh, I think this is yours," Lily said after a while, pulling James' coat out of her bag, "I fell asleep on it,"
James shook his head, "Keep it, you look cold. Right. So the other day… Well there's no point in saying that we won't tell anybody because the only people that we would tell already know." He laughed awkwardly.
Lily smiled slightly, "Yeah."
"But what I want to know is-"
"I don't regret it. I don't think it was a mistake. But I don't know what to do." Lily said all in a rush.
"Where's James?"
"Where's Lily?"
"Maybe they caught another carriage."
"I think he said he wanted to talk with her."
"Maybe they're snogging it out. 'It' being all their sexual frustration and supposed hate for each other."
"Thanks for the input, Sirius."
"Or maybe they've just gotten over with it and are shagging it out."
"Sirius!" Marlene elbowed him in the ribs.
"From the mind that brought you Ultimate Exploding Snap." Dorcas muttered.
"Hey that was a good idea!"
"Until you blew up the compartment." Remus said.
"Two galleons says McGonagall finds them in the Entrance Hall and gives them two weeks detention."
Marlene said, leaning towards Remus.
"Make it a month and you've got a deal." He chuckled.
"Do you mind? You're sort of trying to make profit off my failure."
"How is it a failure? You got what you wanted." Dorcas asked.
"Well, if I wasn't in the middle of the compartment, burning, when everyone came to laugh at it wouldn't be a failure."
"Actually we all try to make a profit off your everything." Marlene smirked.
"It's true." Mary added.
The group filed into the Entrance Hall with the rest of the school, there was still no sign of James and Lily, the hall was cramped and loud, everyone's conversations echoing off the walls. They found refuge by the Grand Staircase, far from anyone but second and third years.
"Where are they?" Marlene asked, frantically looking around the hall.
"Don't worry," Sirius said, slinging an arm over her shoulder. "This is Prongs we're talking about, she'll be
fine with him."
She leant into his chest and nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Mary," Dorcas said from her perch on the railing.
"Yeah?"
"Are you and Edgar just, like, shagging or is there actually something going on there?"
Mary frowned and bit her lip, looking down. After a while she looked up at her friend. "I don't- I don't actually know, Doe."
"It's just, don't get mad at me, but he's a prat. He's got a reputation for screwing around with girls, it might be different with you. But then it might not, you know?"
Mary nodded. "I know,"
"Mr Black." Came the ever recognisable voice of Minerva McGonagall. "As I understand it you and Mr Potter decided it would be amusing to blow up the Hogwarts Express. Where is Mr Potter?"
"We don't know, professor," Marlene said.
"Well then, Black, you and Potter both have a month's detention and I would like to talk with you both after the feast."
"Yes, professor."
She nodded and strode away.
"Nice to see you, Minnie!" Sirius called.
"Two months, Black!" Was her reply.
"Oh, it's good to be back." Dorcas said, grinning at the two foot tall pudding that had appeared in front of her just seconds before.
"Yes. It. Is." Sirius grinned, shovelling pie onto his plate. "Even if I just got two months detention."
Marlene rolled her eyes and bit into a tart.
"I may not have seen it but I felt the presence of that eye roll, Mar." Dorcas said, looking around the pudding at her. "Don't tell me that you didn't miss all the food."
"Am I the only one who is worrying about our friends who still haven't turned up?" She snapped.
"They're fine, you're just bitter because you lost two galleons to Remus."
"Really it should only be one galleon since you got two months and Prongs only got one." Remus allowed, frowning slightly.
"Anyway," Dorcas said, aiming to change the subject, "you know what this calls for, Black?"
"What does it call for, Meadowes?"
"A brilliant welcome back party, after you're back from your little chat with McGonagall, of course,"
"Is there any other kind?" Sirius grinned.
"Where's Pete?" Remus asked, looking around.
"Dunno, maybe he's late."
"Well check the map."
"I can't," Sirius said, "Prongs has it. If I had it I'd have already looked for him and Lily ages ago and we'd
know where they are."
"Well can't you use the mirror?"
Sirius glared across at Remus and kicked him under the table.
"I've been worrying about my best friend for the last hour or so and you've been able to contact them and find out where they are the whole time?" Marlene demanded, hitting him repeatedly in the arm.
"Yes?" He said, shying away from her.
"Well go on, call him!"
"And ask if they can go into Hogsmeade and get some butterbeer and alcohol for us." Dorcas added.
Sirius pulled the small mirror out of his pocket and looked into it. "James Potter," He said, "James Potter."
"What?" Came James' annoyed reply.
"Where are you?"
"We're walking around the grounds, what do you want?"
"We wanted to know where you are, we were worried." Marlene said, looking into the mirror.
"We're fine, Mar," Lily said.
"Doe thinks we should throw a welcome home party,"
"And we need you to go get butterbeer and some form of alcohol, mead or wine or something," Dorcas
added.
"And while you're there can you look for Pete?"
"He's not there?" James asked.
"No, we haven't seen him all night."
"Okay,"
"Oh and you have a month's detention and I have two, also Minnie wants to see us. Though I doubt you'll be back by then so I'll cover for you,"
"Thanks, Pads. Now hurry up and put that thing away before you get caught," And then James and Lily disappeared and the mirror only showed Sirius and Marlene's reflection.
"You are such a prat," Marlene muttered.
"Now, Evans, time for some trouble," James smirked, pulling a sleek sort-of-cloak-sheet-thing from his bag.
"Is that-? You have a-? How?"
"Invisibility cloak? Yeah, it's been passed through my family for generations." He shrugged. "Okay, do you want to take Felix up to your dorm or with us?"
Lily bit her lip, hesitant, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Come on, Evans, we won't get caught. Promise." James said.
"I guess I'll lock him in the bathroom and get my money and stuff." She said slowly.
"Okay." He stuffed the cloak into his bag and pulled out a piece of folded parchment and pointed his wand at
it. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauders Map." Lily read aloud, watching as James unfolded it. "You made this?"
James nodded, "Along with the help of Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot."
"What? No, is that Hogwarts? And there," She pointed to the Great Hall, "That's everyone?"
"Yeah." He pulled her towards the castle.
"Everyone should be at dinner but this is just to make sure that we don't get caught, you aren't gonna wimp out, are you?"
Lily shook her head. "No way,"
He grinned, "We should make you an honorary Marauder," They got to the Entrance Hall, "Get ready to run if someone sees us."
They jogged up the grand staircase and up several others, jumping trick steps and ducking behind tapestries, through hidden passages and up more staircases.
"Oh no, you better know the password." James muttered as they got to the portrait hole.
"Jumblebumbles?" Lily bit her lip, waiting for the portrait to swing open.
"You're very early, dears." The Fat Lady said as it swung back.
"Yes, Yes, we know." Lily said, running through the empty common room and up the stairs to her dorm. She dragged Felix's litter box and water and food bowls into the bathroom and shut him in there with them then scrawled a note to the girls and taped it to the door. She dug out a bag and some money from her trunk and ran back downstairs.
"Took you long enough." James said, leaning against the lounge in front of the fire.
"Shut up and go." She said, pushing him towards the portrait hole. "How are we supposed to get into Hogsmeade if they've shut the gates?"
"We take the hidden passage to Honeydukes."
"And if the door is locked?"
"Magic, my dear Evans, magic."
He led her down more staircases, through more hidden passages and to the statue of the One Eyed Witch. Lily raised a brow as he tapped the hump with his wand and it opened. "Ladies first."
Lily looked into the small opening, it was too dark to see anything. She grabbed the top of the entry and stepped in.
"I wouldn't-" James started but it was too late, Lily slid down the slope with a squeal and then a thump.
"Ow!"
"I told you not to." He said, sliding down next to her.
"Well you could have warned me earlier," She muttered stumbling over the uneven ground, "Arg," She pulled her wand out, whispered "Lumos." And started walking. "How long does this thing go for?"
"Almost an hour if you walk, so hurry up." James said, fastening his pace to a jog.
He was right, it took them around 30-40 minutes to get to the end of the tunnel and another five to soundlessly run up the hundred-or-so stone steps. Once they were in the cellar underneath Honeydukes James grabbed a crate and stuffed it into his bag, the whole crate disappeared into the bag which looked almost empty.
"Don't you just love magic?" He muttered, dropping four galleons where the crate had been stacked.
He pulled the cloak over himself and Lily and they tread softly up the steps into the shop above, all the lights were off and the shop was empty.
"Alohamora," James muttered, pointing his wand at the door once they had gotten across the shop. He tentatively turned the knob but the door didn't open, "Shit, they sealed it."
"Of course they did," Lily murmured, "you're just lucky you've got me." She pulled a pin from her hair, bent it a little and pushed it into the keyhole, after turning and jostling it a bit the lock finally clicked. She grinned at James and silently opened the door.
Once they were out on the main street they walked a little faster. Until they saw a small, round figure in a dark cloak, dragging a trunk, coming towards them.
"Peter." James said, grabbing the boy and pulling him into the nearest alleyway.
"Geroffme, James." Peter groaned.
"Where the hell were you?" James asked, pulling the cloak off of him and Lily.
"Mum was fussing and I- Lily?"
"Hey, Pete," Lily said.
"That's Prongs' coat," He said, pointing to the too big coat wrapped around her, "Are you-? Prongs!"
Lily shook her head, smiling. "No, we've just decided to be friends. Though, I don't doubt you know about that kiss last Friday,"
Peter shook his head, his face going pink. "Sirius can't keep anything to himself."
"Anyway, Wormtail, we're going to go pay Rosmerta a little visit-"
"James Potter. James Potter." It was coming from his pocket.
James groaned and pulled the mirror out, "What now? Dorcas?" he asked in confusion.
"Sirius is with McGonagall. Er… Nobody's going for the party idea, said they know what your parties are like and they actually want to get to class tomorrow, you'd better come back."
"But we just got out of Honeydukes, I got a crate and all." James whined.
"Yeah, well, just come back, we can eat all those sweets."
"Yeah, yeah, we found Pete, by the way."
"What did they do?" Came Marys distant voice.
"They found Peter."
"Oh."
"Anyway," James said, "better go." He shoved the mirror back in his pocket. "Let's go."
They walked back up the street towards the entry to the grounds, Lily picked up a rock off the ground and threw it as far as she could, it landed with a soft thump on the damp grass.
"I don't think they've got the barriers up yet," She muttered, walking up the dirt path. "hurry up or we won't get back before curfew, and then you sods won't have an excuse for being out after hours."
"And what will your excuse be?" Peter asked.
Lily tapped the Prefect badge pinned to her cloak. "Special privileges."
By the time they got up to the common room it was almost empty, only a few of the younger students remained. Lily bolted up the steps to the boys dorms followed by James, who was lugging Peter's trunk up behind him, and then Peter himself.
"And here they are, the happy couple," Sirius announced from the window seat when they walked in. "Er… and Wormtail."
"We aren't-" James began just as Lily spoke up.
"We're just-" She cleared her throat, looking at him. "We just decided to be friends." She dropped her bag on the floor and jumped onto James' bed behind Dorcas who was painting her nails a sparkly white colour.
"Yeah," James mumbled, dropping Peter's trunk at the end of his bed. "We're just mates." He pulled the crate out of his bag and put it in front of Dorcas then chucked the bag behind Lily.
"I dunno what's in there." He said, joining Sirius at the window and pulling a pack of cigarettes from behind the cushion.
"Do you really have to smoke in here?" Remus asked, looking up from his book.
"The window is open," Sirius said as James lit his cigarette. "And anyway, Doe's nail polish stinks but you don't have a problem with it."
Remus glared at him.
"Can we just open this thing?" Marlene asked, pointing her wand at the crate. There was a loud crack and the crate fell apart and dozens of blocks of Honeydukes Finest slid out.
"Score!" Dorcas grinned.
Later that night after they had gone back to their own dorm, the girls laid awake, talking.
"So where did you go?" Mary asked.
"We walked up along the lake and then around the grounds." Lily said, scratching Felix's head as he slept on her chest.
"And you said you were talking, I guess you sorted out the whole thing about that kiss?"
"Yeah, I told him I didn't regret it but that I don't know what to do."
"And what did he say?" Dorcas asked
"Well he was surprised that I didn't want to forget all about it , as you'd think he'd be, and then he said he didn't know what to do either and that maybe we should just be friends for the time being."
"You really do like him, don't you?"
"I don't know, Mar. I don't know."