Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot bunnies.

Lily hurried back towards the Castle, the moon full now, the darkness all around her. After James had disappeared, she had sat by the lake for at least 15 minutes, just thinking things through. Part of her had fumed at James bloody Potter, just leaving the way he had, just when they had been right on the brink of something. But then she thought about the apology in his eyes, the disappointment in his voice before he walked away, and she just couldn't stay mad.

After all, she reminded herself, she'd been rejecting him for years. Why would he confess his feelings to her when he didn't know that she wasn't going to do that ever again? For Merlin's sake, she hadn't even known it herself until it was too late. Damn that Sirius Black!

But as she reached the doors to the Entrance Hall, Lily's anger at the cocky teenage heart-throb faded, and the only annoyance she was left with was for herself. Dumbledore had been very strict about all students being in their Common Rooms by 9pm since the attack, even the prefects, and Lily was already an hour late. While at least she didn't have to worry about the doors being locked - Professors had taken over the patrols, and they often did a sweep of the grounds, too - she knew it wasn't exactly going to be easy to get all the way up to the Gryffindor Tower undectected, and she hated to think of the trouble she would be in if she was caught.

Mentally kicking herself for not leaving as soon as James had, Lily took a deep breath and seized the door handle, praying that some miracle would have occured to leave her route clear. She crossed her fingers and, unable to delay it any longer, ducked inside. So far, so good.

Amazingly, luck seemed to be on her side as she made her way through the Castle, her eyes glinting in the candlelight as they darted about, looking for any sign of teachers, or worse, Filch. The last thing she needed was a month's worth of detention just as Alice got back - they hadn't spent any proper time together since before that fateful Hogsmeade trip, and Lily planned to be attached to her friend's hip for a long, long time.

The odds of that happening seemed to be stacked in her favour though, and Lily was just starting to relax as she walked along the third floor corridor, assuming she had caught the gap in between the Professors' rounds, when she tripped over something solid on the ground. Lily stumbled, catching heself against the wall as her wand went flying. She tried to catch it, but it was too late, and she winced as the 10 1/4" stick of willow clattered noisily along the corridor, before coming to rest several feet away.

Her luck ran out.

Almost immediately, Lily heard the sound of high-heels moving briskly along the joining corridor, no doubt McGonagle or someone similar coming to see who had caused the disruption.

Lily ran for her wand, her long hair flying as she desperately tried to escape the punishment she knew was unavoidable if she was caught here, but it was too late. By the time she'd retrieved the evidence, the footsteps were just seconds away, and Lily had nowhere to run, no place to hide. She froze, her eyes wide with panic, her mind churning to find an excuse, an alibi, anything...when suddenly a floating, bodiless hand appeared in front of her.

Lily opened her mouth to scream, but before she could even make a sound the hand seized her, and pulled her forward, through what felt like a gossamar curtain. Before she knew what had happened, she was pressed gently against the wall of the corridor, a soft finger on her lips, and was once again staring into the eyes of none other than James Potter. Sirius was, of course, beside him, grinning at Lily, and seeming quite at ease with the whole situation.

No sooner than Lily had disappeared did McGonagle herself round the corner, wand lit and raised, eyes narrowed. She looked swiftly around, and then started moving towards them, practically skimming the hidden trio with her cloak. Lily couldn't stop the quiet gasp that escaped her, and James pressed his finger slightly more firmly against her mouth as the Professor traced her footsteps past them once more. His hazel eyes never left her green ones, and Lily saw the silent warning in them - don't make a sound.

Like you needed to tell her twice.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, McGonagle rounded the corner again, and Lily heaved a sigh of relief. James left his finger pressed lightly against her mouth for just a second, relishing the feeling of her warm breath before he withdrew it and stepped back slightly, all the while ensuring that Lily remained invisible. He smiled down at her almost sheepishly, and Lily waited just a few moments to check the coast was definitely clear before her curiousity won out, and the questions started.

"James? I- What are you do- How did you- Why aren't you both in the Common- Where did you get this?" Lily decided the last question was the most intriguing one, and waited for his reply while she stroked the fabric of the Invisibilty Cloak. She had obviously heard about these, but they were so rare. She never dreamed any Hogwarts pupil would have one, not even the Marauders. Amazing.

"Hey Evans," Sirius butted in, grinning at her and completely ignoring her question. "Nice trip? You know, you really should watch where you're walking when you're sneaking about the Castle at night - you might have stubbed my toe, you know." His eyes glinted mischieviously, but there was a hint of annoyance in his voice, like he was frustrated he had caught her attention, and Lily glared at him, knowing he had been the one to nearly get her caught. He opened his mouth to speak again, but James cut him off.

"Keep your voice down, Sirius, McGonagle's probably still in the next corridor. Just keep an eye out, OK?" Sirius sighed theatrically and then nodded his head. To Lily's surprise however, he didn't turn his head towards the point where the two corridors met, but simply rummaged about in his robes for something that was hidden from Lily's view, and then appeared to study it intently. Lily rolled her eyes, waiting for James' rebuke to come, but he just nodded, satisfied, before turning back to her.

"I inherited it," he explained in a low voice, gesturing to the shiny silver fabric. "It's been passed down my family for generations, a sort of father-to-son thing. My dad gave it to me just before I started here."

"It's...wow." She looked at him, impressed. "This is cool." James grinned, a tiny hint of smugness playing across his features as he thanked her. "So...thanks for saving me from McGonagle's wrath," she went on, smiling up at him. Then her eyes narrowed slightly, and she asked, "What are you doing sneaking out of the Common Room under this, again?"

"Ehhhh..." James looked quickly at Sirius (who had put away the whatever he had been looking at and was now listening intently) and then away again, and Lily remembered the weird non-verbal discussion they'd had by the lake. She was right - something was definitely going on. She raised an eyebrow at Sirius' overly innocent expression, and then turned her eyes pointedly back to James. He looked down at her from his 6ft frame, and knew she'd never believe a lie. Still, he knew she would be far from pleased with the truth as well, so he avoided eye-contact as he admitted reluctantly, "We're going out."

As he expected, her reaction was not good.

"What?" she hissed in a furious whisper. "James, you can't! It's against Dumbledore's rules!"

"Lily, we have to." He stayed calm, trying to reason with her, before raising an eyebrow. "Besides," he went on, a hint of amusement colouring his tone, "it's not exactly like you're a strict follower of those rules is it?" His eyes dropped to his watch and then raised them back to hers pointedly. Lily frowned, unable to disagree with him on that point. James could see that she still wasn't happy though, and tried to get her to relax. "Trust me Evans, we're big boys. We'll be fine."

His words had the exact opposite effect of what he had intended. Lily's eyes flashed disbelievingly, and she was off again.

"Fine? Fine? James, have you forgotten what happened to Frank and Alice in the past 30 minutes? Don't you think they thought they'd be fine? The scum that did that is still out there, don't you understand that? Or is that the point? If this is all some big game to you-"

"It's not a game and I haven't forgotten Lily." James eyes were serious, his words reassuring her that he cared about what had happened, about how she felt. But then once again, like they had at the lake, his eyes pierced hers, as though he were trying to communicate something crucial. His hand rested gently on her shoulder, as he spoke again. "But we do have to go."

Lily could see that her annoyance wasn't working, so she decided to try a different tack. "James," she whispered slowly, "I've already risked losing two friends, I don't want to risk that with you too." James' mouth curved up softly at the corners when she said that, and Lily felt a light blush rise to her cheeks as she realised how...dependent on him she'd sounded. Still, it was true, so she met his gaze firmly while she spoke.

"Oh well, Evans, I'm touched that you seem so concerned for at least one person's welfare here," said Sirius sarcastically, and James rolled his eyes as his friend went on. Count on Sirius to ruin a moment. "But d'you mind if you two continue this little tete-a-tete some other time? This cloak wasn't exactly built to fit four under it."

Lily opened her mouth to retort that he must have hit his head as a child since there were only three people under the cloak, but suddenly James was talking very quickly, pulling her attention back to him.

"Anyway, Lily, we really should go, OK? I promise we'll be fine. Sirius, where's Filch?"

Once again Sirius consulted his robe pocket, before saying, "First floor classroom, talking to Peeves. Looks like patrols have stopped for now as well."

Lily didn't think she'd ever been more confused in her life, but when James looked at her expectantly, she stood her ground.

"Sorry," she said, "but I'm not going anywhere. I can't let you guys go out to...wherever it is you're going. You're stuck with me." She folded her arms across her chest stubbornly.

James opened his mouth to argue, but Sirius held up a hand. "Prongs, allow me." He turned to Lily. "Lily, I'm really sorry about this, but if you knew the whole story, you'd understand." For once, he looked completely genuine, his words almost earnest. And then he took hold of her shoulders and pushed her out from under the cloak. Lily realised what he was going to do and struggled, but it was too late. She was back in the corridor, and the boys had disappeared.

"Sirius?" she hissed. "James?"

"Sorry, Lily, I really wish I could explain." She's recognised James' voice, and whipped her head round wildly, but she couldn't locate where the sound had come from. She stood still for a few minutes, then realised they were gone and blew out a frustrated breath.

"Men."

She turned on her heel, heading in the direction of the Tower, when she stepped on something. Looking down, Lily saw a tattered piece of parchment under her foot. It seemed to be covered in ink spots, and on a whim she picked it up, assuming Sirius has dropped it when they fought. It was only when it got closer to her face that Lily gasped.

She saw now that it wasn't spare parchment. It was a map. A map of the entire Castle, showing every single person as a tiny, labelled black dot of ink. Her eyes flickered to the top of the page, where she read a title:

The Marauder's Map

Lily laughed quietly. Only the Marauders had the skill and the desire to create somthing like this. Looking more closely, she found the dot labelled "Lily Evans", and saw that her path to the Common Room really was clear. Then, her curiousity burning, her eyes frantically searched until she located the dots labelled "James Potter" and "Sirius Black". Peter Pettigrew was also with them - he must have met them in the Entrance Hall - and Lily watched avidly as the three of them crossed the grounds until they reached the Whomping Willow, where, to her surprise and utter confusion, they disappeared from sight.

Author's Note: I'll try to keep it coming pretty steadily, but like I said earlier, I won't make any promises since I don't want to disappoint. I'd really love it if you left a review! :)