Snape rounded a corner and glanced behind him. He couldn't shake the prickly feeling in the back of his neck, like he expected to turn around and see someone pointing a wand straight at him. It was probably from lack of sleep. Snape couldn't remember a night where he hadn't stayed up into the next day since—well, since Lily had stopped talking to him. But that was entirely another story.

He stopped again, whipping around abruptly. He thought he saw a rustling, a flash of red. Snape felt anger rising up inside him—if it hadn't been his overactive, paranoia-fueled imagination, then it was certainly a Gryffindor. And since it was out of the question that Lily would be following him, then any Gryffindor in his vicinity meant a confrontation.

Snape pulled his wand out, practically bristling. He would find out if someone really was there."Homenum Reve—"

"Now, now, m'boy. No magic in the halls," Professor Slughorn said, clapping an enormous hand onto Snape's shoulder with a booming chuckle.

"Sorry, Professor," Snape muttered, gritting his teeth. Slughorn had every reason to like Snape, despite his less-than-cheerful manner, as he was arguably his best Potions student, among Slytherins at least. Snape had even suffered through a few meetings of his little club, where he had to be in the same room as Lily and Potter. He wasn't sure which of the two caused him more anxiety to see.

"Right, now I'm sure you've got homework to do—but I can rest assured that you've completed my essay already, yes?"
"Yes, Professor," Snape said with a thin smile.

"Excellent," Slughorn said with a yellowish smile. "If you ever need more ingredients, just ask. My ingredients store is yours. The most promising potionmaker my House has seen in at least a century, you are!"

"Thank you, Professor," Snape said, his shoulders sagging in defeat.

"Now, run along," the professor said, and Snape obeyed, heading towards the dungeons.

When Snape's footsteps had well faded, Professor Slughorn turned towards the empty hallway. "Now, Potter, enough of this charade."

There was no answer, and Slughorn stroked his mustache irritably. "Don't be clever with me, now. The Head Boy should know better."

The invisibility cloak slipped away and James appeared, standing sheepishly in the middle of the corridor.

"An invisibility cloak? Now, where did you get that? That is a very rare sort of magical item…" Slughorn said, his eyes suddenly shining.

Suddenly afraid that Slughorn would report him for having it, or try to take it for himself, James said quickly, "Oh, I enchanted a bed sheet."

"Well, that is excellent wandwork, Potter. Wouldn't have guessed it," Slughorn said, looking pleased, like the cloak was a personal achievement of his.

"Yes, see, sir," James said, sensing a way out, "I've been rather… upset since the death of that girl. Jumpy, even. I've taken to wearing this as a way to patrol the hallways without the other students knowing, so I can root out the misbehaving ones."

"Well, glad as I am to see you taking charge… these methods are less than conventional, Potter. I'd suggest you return to your common room and do your patrols fully visible next time… understood?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you," James said with a smile. It wasn't for nothing that they said that James Henry Potter could charm his way out of just about anything.

! #$%^&*

"What do you mean? We've all got to take turns following him, James! You can't back out now!"

"Slughorn's onto me, I think. If he catches me again, he'd take the cloak, report me… I'm Head Boy," James said, rubbing his temples.

"If you say Head Boy one more time…" Sirius ground out.

Remus spoke up. "He's right, he's our way into the teachers, and the only one who's allowed out later than the rest."

"Maybe we can try to read Snape's mind," Peter said, but was thoroughly ignored.

"He's bound to notice he's being followed, and he'll keep his guard up," James said. "There's got to be a better way."

"I know what to do," Peter said, a little louder.

"What?" Sirius said irritably.

"Read Snape's mind."

"Ha," James snorted.

"Actually…" Remus said thoughtfully. "It's very advanced magic, but Legilimency might be worth a try…"

"Really?" Sirius said doubtfully.

"I've never really tried it," Remus said. "But there are books about it in the Restricted section, I'm sure."

James sighed. "Our plan is getting more and more complicated all the time." But it seemed no one had a better option.

! #$%^&*

"You're planning on stopping Snape yourself?" Lily asked when they met up for rounds, and for one terrifying moment, James thought that Lily herself had used Legilimency and looked into her mind. In response to his stunned look, Lily added. "Sirius told Marlene and Marlene told me. And I want to help."

"You know how to do that sort of magic?" James asked.

"No… but…" Lily hesitated. "I used to know Snape well. So that might help."

James felt slightly queasy at being reminded how inseparable she and Snape used to be. "You don't have to—"

"Why? Why not? Why should I be any less capable than Remus?" Lily said, her hands on her hips now.

"Fine. Fine. I'll let you know when we're doing it. Mind you, we're most likely breaking wizard laws—I'm not sure it's legal and I have no intention of finding out."

"Legal?" Lily laughed. "The Ministry is a Death Eater-controlled image. There are no laws anymore. All's fair in love and war."

The sense of purpose that had gotten her through this exchange with James faded, and as she said the word "love," the memory of what she'd read in the book came crashing down on her, and she fell silent.

"W-well," Lily stammered. She took a deep breath, willing herself to look away from James. She talked out loud to herself loads of times, this couldn't be any different. Looking at the ceiling, she spoke to the vaulted stone. "Let's do the rounds, then."

James noticed her falter, but didn't understand why. He nodded, but remembering that Lily was looking pointedly away, said, softly, "Right. Let's go."