A/N: This is where I need help. Is there some sort of list with the spells from the book? I can barely remember any and I know I will be stuck writing soon if I don't know any! Another little note about Peter, I wouldn't mind demonizing him in this story but I don't think James, Remus and Sirius would have remained friends with him for so long and trusted him enough if they didn't like him. So for the majority of the story I think I'll keep him as much as a "friend" as possible although every now and again I won't be able to help myself and will drop a nasty line on him! xXx

Disclaimer: As written in beginning, I don't own any of the HP characters/name/places.

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TRIAL & ERROR

"Shut UP, Peter!" Sirius yelled, his temper finally giving way to Peter's persistent nail biting worry warnings. He shoved his stool back and began to pace the Room of Requirement that had so usefully become their experimental laboratory. His normally smooth hair was messy, almost resembling James' usual style with the exception that it looked more than a little... frazzled. Indeed Remus could see little wisps of smoke fanning out from the dark mob. He himself was none the better with severely burnt robes and fried hair.

"When you want to invent stuff for the good of mischief there are certain...sacrifices that need to be made." Sirius said, exercising a patience he did not have. He patted gingerly on his head to air out any remaining smoke before trying to flatten his hair. James noted with dismay that even in this state, Sirius's hair still managed to maintain a casual elegance his own stubbornly refused. He rubbed his eyes; he had not escaped unscathed, as his dark lashes and brows were looking definitely singed.

"Wormtail might have a point there." He prodded at the key like instrument that they had strapped to a car battery as part of a circuit. How in the world Sirius had gotten hold of one of those James didn't know. "Stuff like electricity should be left to Muggles."

Sirius looked indignant. "This, is going to be the most useful thing we would have made to date!" he picked up the key and waved it in the air before presenting it back to James like it were the most valuable thing in the world. "Once we get this right, we could use this key to open any door, anywhere!"

"But there's a spell to do that already." Peter protested.

Remus replied before Sirius could snap. "If a bunch of teenage wizards can use Alohomora then so can any other wizard. They are bound to have charms that deactivate it." Remus leaned forward, thoroughly absorbed by the flash of sheer genius of their new idea. "The theory is that if we can't use something that is magical, why can't we try something that Muggles use?"

Peter frowned. "But what if there's no key hole? A lot of the doors here don't have keyholes."

"That is why we are combing the two ideas together! No keyhole? Then we'll make one! What's better than a key that makes its own keyholes?" Sirius dropped the key back onto the table.

"Looking for another way in might help." James couldn't help but grin.

Sirius waved his hand dismissively. "By all means, Prongs. If you want to be the one hanging from a rope a few hundred feet from your death trying to get in through a window then I'll gladly be the one to walk in through the door because I have a key!"

"Has this anything to do with trying to get into the girls' dorm?" Peter asked hopefully.

Sirius shook his head. "What broom have you been flying on mate? Girls' dorm is stairs, this is doors remember? I'm tired of explaining, how about we give this another go?"

James scooted his chair closer to the table. "Right, nothing will stop the Marauders!" He clasped his hands together with a clap. "But can't we turn the voltage down a notch?" he asked with some thought. The others heartily agreed before they got back to work.

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Lily was frantic. After turning her bed, wardrobe, and trunk inside out she had moved on to tip out everything her roommates owned as well. Failing that she checked their bathrooms, all of her classrooms and as many corridors that she knew she had ever stepped foot in.

Finally she went as far towards the Whomping Willow as she dared and spent over an hour shuffling through dry leaves and soil. All of this searching amounted to nothing and a certain fact that was inescapable.

Her wand was missing.

She knew she had it in yesterday's lesson and had a vague memory of having it in her bag in the evening but other than that, her wand had simply vanished. Left with no choice she had had to confess to Professor McGonagall who after a few words told her she would send an owl to Mr. Ollivander. Lily was due to receive her wand in the next owl post and for now was left wandless until the next day. Although she was confident that even without her wand she could still cast a few decent spells she couldn't help but feel a little naked without it, as it were.

Lying on a large beanie bag in front of the roaring fire in the Common room, Lily was slowly making her way through "Deeper Meanings in Dreams" by Jose Weedle. Not only were her dreams draining energy from her by ruining her sleep but also now she was actually sleepwalking. Lily made a mental note to lock the room door that night as she read.

The book held an abundance of strange facts and figures as well as stories of people not understanding their dreams and doing stupid things as a result. There was one story about a wizard that kept dreaming about a dog, which he misinterpreted as the Grim, the poor man ended up locking himself in his room for months and would only venture out if he were wrapped in cotton wool head to toe. Only when he referred to an expect did he learn that he was not seeing a Grim but just a sign that he was going to be fined for not cleaning up after his dog in the streets.

So far, Lily had worked out that being stuck in the middle of a creepy wood in a dream meant that she was about to or encountering problems that would give her a headache. She had yet to reach the later chapters about sleepwalking but already she could feel a real headache coming on. With a groan she shut the heavy book and rubbed her temples.

Having bad dreams should be the least of her problems. Her own family were Muggles, just the thought of anyone hurting them sent chills into her heart. They would not be able to protect themselves from a powerful wizard like the Dark Lord and his Deatheaters. Her thoughts drifted to Yoanna and she felt great waves of sympathy as well as an undercurrent of shame because she was relieved that her own family was not on the list.

"Penny for you thoughts?" Lily opened her eyes wide and stared at James who was slung across another cushion facing hers. James was pleasantly surprised as Lily stared wide-eyed back at him; her green eyes usually narrowed when she was about to snap at him. And he was definitely lying close enough to be within snapping range.

"What happened to your eyelashes?" She asked after a moment more of inspection.

"Oh that," He pushed some hair off his face, a little disappointed. "Just something that happened while we were experimenting." He spotted the change in her immediately even as she drew away from him. He mentally slapped himself for mentioning their "experimenting" because he knew she didn't agree with "playing around with dangerous things" as she had once said.

"Then you deserved it. I'm surprised you didn't lose your eyebrows too."

"Aw, Evans cut me some slack. We're not that stupid to do something that would hurt ourselves..." he trailed off suddenly remembering that they had spent the whole evening working on the key, which so happened to involved passing a high voltage current through themselves. Lily's expression told him that she knew otherwise.

James stared at her for a few seconds and a wide crooked smile began to form on his lips. "So you do care if I get hurt!" he exclaimed, his happiness flooding back.

Colour appeared on Lily's cheeks. As much as James would like to think she was blushing he knew that she was just getting angry. He braced himself for a torrent of verbal abuse but was surprised when she just stood up and left.

"Something's wrong." He decided. Looking down to where she had sat he spotted a book that she had left. "'Deeper Meanings in Dreams'" he read aloud. Lily stormed back into Common Room and snatched the book out of his hands before she stormed out again leaving a very puzzled James.