37

The day of the full moon, James and the Marauders were barely able to concentrate as they prepared for their school day. Contrary to feeling tired after his talk with Dumbledore, James felt energized.

'I think we should go deeper into the Forbidden Forest,' Sirius said in a hushed voice as they exited their dormitory, headed down the stairs into the Gryffindor Common Room. They were the first to arrive. 'There's got to be all sorts of fantastic creatures out there that we haven't seen yet. Some of the older students swear there are spiders as big as automobiles out there!' Sirius went on.

'That sounds like the opposite of something we should be looking for,' Peter replied, looking somewhat queasy as he said it.

'I would feel better if we stuck closer to the castle grounds,' Remus added in, casting his gaze about to make sure no one was within earshot. 'What if we come across someone who's out walking through the woods? I could be a danger to them.'

James' mind flickered back to that night so long ago, back in his first year, when they had discovered Rochefort and his men waiting in the woods to ambush the school…he shook the thought aside. 'I agree with Moony,' he said. 'We'll have loads of time to probe deeper into the woods on other nights. But I think we'd be safest staying close to the school for now.'

Sirius raised an eyebrow. 'James Potter, turning away from danger?' he asked.

'Think of it this way,' James said, ignoring the jab. 'If they notice we're not in our beds…'

'…that's never happened,' Sirius snorted derisively.

'…but say they did,' James went on, 'we'll be near enough to the school to hear the alarm being raised. We'll be able to sneak back in before they notice we aren't even on the school grounds anymore.'

'Well reasoned,' Remus agreed.

'That's got my vote,' Peter said quickly.

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'Sadly, there appears to be only one man among us,' he sighed. 'Have it your way, we'll stay close.'

'But what if Snape comes out looking for us again?' Peter asked.

'I hope he does,' Sirius said savagely.

'Sirius…' Remus sighed in a strained voice.

Sirius waved an arm. 'I'm only joking,' he muttered in a not altogether convincing tone. 'It would serve the git right to get a bite taken out of him, though.'

'Sirius,' Remus said more forcefully.

'By me! Not by you!' Sirius cut in defensively.

Remus rubbed the spot on his nose between his eyes. 'Maybe we should put off going out this month,' he suggested. 'If Severus is intent on following you, he might be put off the scent if you don't go out this evening.'

'Unacceptable,' Sirius replied. 'We're not leaving you alone to it, Moony.'

'I've been doing this for years, Padfoot,' Remus countered.

'Marauders always have each other's backs,' James cut in forcefully. 'We'll be sure to stay out of eyesight of Remus. We'll have the map, and Peter is small enough to sneak around and make sure we're not being watched before we make our move. We can head into the edge of the forest; that way we'll be out of eyesight of the school, but close enough to hear if something starts to go sideways. Agreed?'

Remus sighed. 'That's as good as it'll get, I suppose,' he said.

'Your confidence is bracing, Moony,' James said, clapping his friend on the shoulder. 'Padfoot? Wormtail? Good enough?' Peter nodded and Sirius shrugged. 'Excellent. We all know the drill, then.'

The portrait hole opened and Professor McGonagall stepped through. If she was surprised to see James, Peter and Sirius awake to see their friend off, she hid it superbly. 'You all look alert,' she said smoothly. 'I take it none of you will cite exhaustion during Transfiguration today?'

'No, Professor,' Sirius said with a winning smile.

Professor McGonagall gave him a curt nod, and then turned a kindly gaze on Remus. 'Are you ready to go, Mr. Lupin?'

'Yes, Professor,' Remus said, and he turned to face his friends. 'See you soon,' he said with a small smile and he and the Transfiguration professor disappeared through the door.

The day seemed to pass exceptionally slowly, and the group was exceptionally sluggish through all their cases. But Transfiguration was the final class of the day. James, Sirius and Peter made extra efforts to be lively and awake during the class. Whenever Professor McGonagall had needed a question answered by a student, she always seemed to land on James or Sirius to answer it. Fortunately, they were up to the task.

'Is there a reason Professor McGonagall was so focussed on you two today?' Lily asked James as class was ending and everyone was gathering their bags and parchments.

'She thought we'd be too tired,' Sirius said as he let out an extremely loud yawn. James thought he caught a glimpse of Professor McGonagall grinning to herself, but she turned back to her desk so her face was hidden from view.

'Why would she think that?' Lily asked as they stepped into the hallway.

'We saw Moony off this morning,' James informed her. 'She used to be surprised to see us awake at that time.'

'Used to be even more surprised when we still showed up to class,' Sirius chimed in.

'Hullo, Sirius!' came the voice of Rowena Goldstein. James, Sirius, Lily and Peter turned to see her standing and beaming at him. 'Did you have a good day?'

'Better now,' Sirius grinned. 'Care to sit together at dinner?' he asked.

'Maybe we should move on,' Lily whispered to James and Peter. Taking the hint, they started to move off.

'I'm actually swamped with homework,' Rowena said. 'I was thinking of taking dinner back up to my dormitory. I could use a study partner…'

James was lingering and listening. Lily grabbed his ear and pulled hard. 'OI!' James grunted.

'Oh…tonight?' Sirius said uncomfortably. 'I—er—can't. I'm swamped as well. How about tomorrow?' he said.

The lie was lame. Maybe that explained the sudden look that crossed Rowena's face; a look that didn't look like it belonged on her face at all. Anger? James could hardly blame her for being angry—even though he knew this time, Sirius was covering for a legitimate reason.

Lily, on the other hand, was not so aware. If Rowena looked angry, Lily looked furious.

'Rowena,' Lily said kindly, 'how would you like to do rounds with me tonight? After you've finished your homework?'

Rowena blinked, the look of cold fury disappearing from her face. 'Rounds?' she asked.

'Rounds,' Lily said again, tapping her Prefect's badge. 'Remus has had to leave to visit a relative, so I was going to be on my own. We could do it together? Might give us a chance to get to know one another.' She cast a steely gaze at Sirius. 'Maybe vent about things that are bothering us.'

Rowena's gaze flickered to James, who felt a sudden sense of unease. But the next thing he knew, she was smiling brightly at Lily. 'That sounds lovely. Where shall we meet and when?'

James grabbed Sirius by the elbow and dragged him away, Peter in tow. 'Padfoot, you need to get better at lying,' he said in a hushed voice. 'You're not just going to push away Rowena, but you're going to get everybody in the school whipped into an angry mob, whose sole purpose will be to string you up by your toes from the Astronomy tower!'

'I know the lie was bollocks,' Sirius said defensively, 'but she put me on the spot!'

Peter glanced back. 'You could always go?' he suggested. 'James and I could keep Moony company well enough.'

'That's an idea,' James nodded encouragingly. 'Just for one night? Come on, Padfoot.'

Sirius shook his head. 'No. I already made a commitment to Moony, and if Snivellus comes looking for trouble, I want to be there. End of story.'

James sighed, glancing back at Lily and Rowena who were still immersed in conversation. 'Have it your way, Sirius. But if you keep being this bloody bad at making excuses, she'll dump you like a bad habit.'

'Maybe Lily can smooth things over,' Peter suggested.

'Yeah, that's what she's got in mind,' Sirius grumbled. 'Didn't you hear what she said about venting?'

'She knows you're a good person,' James said. When Sirius raised his eyebrows, James shrugged. 'Okay, maybe she knows that very deep down you're a good person,' he added with a laugh.

Dinner came and went and the preparations began in earnest for the night. Darkness had already fallen and the moon was in the sky. More than once during their preparations, they heard a distant howl. 'Hold tight, Moony,' Sirius said as he jammed some things into a rucksack.

Peter frowned. 'What are you bringing?'

'Charms textbook,' Sirius explained. 'Just in case he smacks any of us around too hard. Might not hurt to have a little medical know-how with us.'

'Good thinking,' Peter said, although he looked worried.

'Well, Prongs?' he asked. 'Are we all clear?'

James was studying the Marauders Map. The time for Curfew was fast approaching, and only a few students remained in the Common Room. 'Should be easy enough for us to slip out of the dormitory,' James said slowly, scanning the rest of the castle. Lily was still in the girls' dormitory, but he could see Rowena Goldstein was already moving from the Ravenclaw dormitories in their direction. 'Hallways are mostly empty, too. Rowena's on her way towards us, though, but we should be able to avoid her.'

'Any sign of Snivellus?' Sirius asked.

'Not anywhere where we'll run into him. I think he's in his dormitory, too; hard to tell, the Slytherins are always clustered around in their common room,' James observed.

'Well, let's get moving, then,' Sirius said.

'Hang on, Evans is moving,' James said. The three of them crowded around the map, watching the little inkblot that represented Lily Evans moving down the staircase from the girls' dormitory into the common room, and then out the portrait hole.

'Sure would be nice to know what Lily plans to say to Rowena about me,' Sirius grumbled.

James glanced at him thoughtfully for a moment. 'Come on,' he said. He pulled out his Invisibility Cloak and with great effort, the three of them managed to squeeze underneath it. In silent, practiced unison, they moved out of their dormitory and headed down the staircase into the common room. Gideon and Fabian Prewett were tossing a quaffle lazily back and forth, while Frank Longbottom and Alice Dearborn were sitting comfortably by the fire together in a chair meant for one person.

No one noticed the portrait hole silently opening and closing. Once they were out in the hall, James scanned the map. The ink blots representing Lily and Rowena had moved on further up Gryffindor tower, towards the fifth floor. 'Right. You two head for Moony. I'll join you soon,' James said, ducking out from under the cloak.

'Wait—are you daft?' Sirius hissed, no longer visible to James' eyes. 'What are you doing?'

James smiled in what he hoped was nonchalant manner. 'Why to see what they're saying about you of course,' he said.

Peter's face appeared out of the cloak. 'James, that's eavesdropping! On Lily! Doesn't that seem…wrong?' he asked.

James waved an arm. 'If she starts to tear Sirius apart, I'll cause a distraction. Then they'll be so worried about giving me detention for sneaking out that they'll forget about you.'

Sirius' head appeared as well. 'But if you get detention, how will you join us in the Shrieking Shack?' he hissed.

'I'll figure something out,' James said and he started off.

'Wait! Maybe you should take the cloak, or the map? At least we know our way is clear!' Peter offered.

James shook his head. 'You have no way of knowing what it will be like when you come back into the castle,' he said. 'Take them. I'll be fine.' And without waiting for objections, he headed off. It felt bad lying to Sirius and Peter. It was not entirely on Sirius' behalf that he was following Lily.

Something just seemed off about the whole thing. No, that wasn't right. Something seemed off about Rowena. James couldn't quite place his finger on it, but the idea of Lily walking the castle halls alone with her right now was filling him with a tremendous sense of anxiety.

It's probably nothing, James, he reassured himself as he hurried up the staircase to the fifth floor. He slowed as he neared the top of the staircase, straining to hear.

Only silence met his ears. The halls were dark, but he did not draw his wand. He hugged the walls as he craned his neck to peer around the corners of the staircase and into the dark hallway. There was no one to be seen in either direction. He frowned. Surely not enough time had passed for them to have moved on already? Two people walking at a leisurely pace wouldn't cover that much ground.

James moved quietly down the hallway, straining his ears. He thought he could hear a muffled sound coming from somewhere. Was it laughter? Or something else?

Better safe than sorry, his father's voice rang in his head. James reached into his robes and clutched his wand. He did not light it, but he held it at his side as he continued to move down the hallway. He was just passing the statue of Boris the Bewildered when the statue moved, causing him to jump back in alarm and nearly causing him to shout.

Light filled the hallway from a room behind the statue, and Rowena Goldstein stood there. For a moment, she had a blank look on her face as she took in James, who was standing with his wand pointed at her.

Realizing what he was doing, he quickly lowered the wand. 'Rowena,' he said, mind racing for a lie. 'I'm sorry, didn't mean to point—'

He wasn't able to finish his sentence. Rowena's hands flashed out and grabbed him by the neck of his robes. With more force than he would have thought possible from her, he was nearly lifted off his feet and then he was tumbling through the air into a great, well lit room. He crashed to the ground, skidding several feet before crashing into something soft. A muffled noise met his ears when he did so.

James was facing the ceiling, so he turned his head around to see what he had crashed into. His blood ran cold when he found himself staring into the green eyes of Lily Evans—wide with fright, her body and her mouth bound with ropes, trying her best to cry out through the gag as her gaze turned once more past James.

All of this happened in an instant, and James reacted instinctively. 'Protego!' he shouted, looking back at the door. The spell Rowena had been casting at him bounced backwards at her, but with a swat of her wand she knocked it away. James regained his feet as she stepped further into the room, the status of Boris the Bewildered sliding back into place behind her.

Once again, a look that did not belong on the face of Rowena Goldstein came over it. And it was then that James placed just whose face that look belonged on, as Rowena grinned. 'Thank you, Potter,' she said in an awful voice. 'Or should I say Untouchable Potter.'

'Rochefort,' James whispered.