Hello! I just wanted to apologise for a mistake in the last chapter. I wrote 1975 when it should have been 1976 because I sometimes suck at basic maths. It's amazing that I even managed to pass my maths exams. Anyhow, hope you enjoy this chapter! Oh, and I was wondering: is anyone actually reading this? I don't particularly mind one way or the other as I am writing for my own enjoyment, but I was just curious :)

A few days after the news of the Muggle Registration Act came out, Sirius walked into the Common room to see a rather peculiar sight. A little desk had been set up in the corner of the room, a banner reading: Hogwarts Students against the Act!, hanging off of it, painted in red sloppy handwriting. Three Marauders and Marlene stood behind the table and were chatting to a few students, whilst holding boxes full of wands.

"Hey! Sirius!" Marlene cried and beckoned him over.

"What is this?" Sirius said as he inspected the desk.

"Do you want to explain, James?"

James looked up from his conversation with a proud smile adorning his face.

"This is a protest against the Act - Dumbledore-approved of course. We're having a 'Muggle day' on Halloween, to try to relate to their world better. So, we're taking in anybody's wand who wants to participate and we'll give them to McGonnagall for safe-keeping. It's been amazing how enthusiastic people are! I thought it would just be Gryffindor students, but people are telling their friends who are now handing their wands in via their friends. We've even got some Slytherin participants!" He explained excitedly.

Sirius nodded, "Sounds like chaos! I'm in. Should I hand my wand in now?"

"Well you can keep it until the night before, if you want, but many people are sorting it before-hand."

Sirius pulled his wand out of his pocket, and dropped into one of the boxes on the desk. He and James smiled at each other, little pieces of their hearts healing just a bit.

"Doesn't this sound like it's going to be an interesting day?" Lily had come over upon noticing Sirius' arrival, and she linked an arm with Marlene. She had initially been slightly sceptical about the plan, but Marlene had managed to persuade her after a day or so.

"My family would hate it; it sounds perfect." Sirius replied cheekily.

Remus laughed, "I am so looking forward to seeing our pureblood friends try and function without a wand for a day."

"It can't be that hard." James scoffed, "Anyways, when we were younger we all didn't have wands."

"Ah yes," Lily smirked, "But your parents did. It wasn't like you didn't have any magic at all. I think this is definitely going to be a learning experience for you."

"You do under-estimate me, Evans."

"Let's just hope you can prove me wrong, Potter." she winked slyly before walking away to rejoin Dorcas on the sofa.

Sirius raised at his eyebrows at James, "That was certainly very friendly."

James chuckled, and Marlene ruffled his hair playfully, "Lily has become a lot warmer towards our boy James here since his protest idea. He hasn't yet managed to do anything to mess it up."

"Why do you say yet?" James said indignantly, "This may be the beginning of a long and stable friendship!"

Everyone around the table laughed.

"I'll believe that when I see it." Marlene sniggered.

"I can't believe the lack of support from you lot sometimes!"

The days between then and Halloween flashed by, and more and more wands were handed in everyday. The Marauders figured that there wasn't a single student in Gryffindor who hadn't handed their wand in, but that may have been due to the peer pressure of the Marauders staring them down every time they walked into the Common room, rather than morals.

On the morning of Halloween, the Hogwarts population woke up to a supposedly perfectly normal Saturday morning. They were all proved wrong very quickly.

"Moony! Moony! How does one iron their clothes without a wand?" James cried, as he inspected all of his wrinkled clothes.

"Well Prongs, one tends to iron them just after they have been washed, and that does happen here too, if only you hadn't heaped all your clothes into a pile inside your wardrobe."

"It's the most efficient way of storing them." James huffed.

Remus sighed, looking exasperatedly at his friend. He turned to his own wardrobe, where the clothes had all been neatly folded or hung up, even the underwear.

"Here, wear this." Remus handed James a green knitted jumper, and the boy gratefully pulled it on. The only problem was, James was a bit bigger than Remus; the jumper fit him skin-tight.

"Oh merlin," Peter wheezed when he caught sight of his friend, "And you can't even enlarge it!"

Sirius came out of the bathroom at that moment and snorted.

"It's all very well you two laughing," James cried, "but it isn't like you two aren't going to have the exact same problem!"

And he was right, all but one of the Marauders went done to breakfast in a state. Peter hadn't been able to borrow Remus' clothes at all, so went down in a totally wrinkled and creased shirt. Annoyingly, Sirius had also been able to borrow of his Remus' shirts and had managed to make it look good too. However, without his wand to help him style his hair, something that resembled a bird's nest sat on top his head.

Their day was only going to get worse with breakfast. Dumbledore had decided that, in support of the protest, he would tell the house-elves to take a day off of making breakfast. So, to their horror, the Marauders saw that an additional table had been put out next to the doors, and it was equipped with strange devices.

The Marauders sat down with the sixth year Gryffindor girls, who all fell about laughing.

"You've all only been awake half an hour," Lily giggled, laughing into her hand, "Yet you already look like a right mess!"

She looked no different, wearing a purple sweater embroidered with little daisy flowers along with some jeans and her hair fell gracefully in soft waves. It was clear that the morning hadn't been difficult for her at all.

The Marauders tried to ignore the laughter.

"What's going on with breakfast?" Sirius sighed.

"We're making some of it ourselves," Dorcas said, eyes gleaming merrily, "it's actually quite fun - you should go and try. We'll watch from here."

Marlene nodded eagerly, "Try not to blow anything up."

James felt that the girls were definitely cheating by using Lily to guide them for the day, but it was obvious that there was no way Lily would offer them any advice; she was having too much fun watching. So, James decided to just play along.

"Right then," he said, getting up, "Marauders, we do this as a team. No man left behind. Now, follow me."

They went off to the table and looked over everything.

"Prongs," Peter whispered, nudging James' side, "What's that?" He pointed over to a silver metal box with four thin rectangular shaped holes that sat next to the plate of bread.

"I don't know," James replied in the same concerned tone, "Let's not go near it."

Sirius was handling a knife, attempting to cut an orange into slices. He was holding the orange dangerously close to the knife, and just before he cut a finger off, Remus grabbed the knife-wielding hand, stopping it from slicing.

"Padfoot! Do you want to walk away with only four fingers?!" Remus shouted, and then guided Sirius' hand and they chopped the orange together, slowly and carefully, without losing a digit in the process.

Peter gave up and decided to avoid doing anything dangerous by just taking a muffin. The girls sighed disappointedly as he rejoined them.

James pondered over what to try and do. On the one hand, he didn't want to injure himself or anyone around him, but on the hand, he wanted Lily to see that he could cope for a day without his wand.

"Oh look" Dorcas said to Lily while they watched James, "He's discovered the kettle. I wonder what he's trying to make. In goes the water and- oh Merlin no, Lily he's just poured milk into the kettle. And now sugar! Well at least the kettle hasn't exploded now that he's boiling water, milk and sugar together."

James picked up a mug and placed a teabag in it, patiently waiting for his little concoction to boil. When it had, he poured it into the mug, looking very proud.

"That must have been one of the seven deadly sins!" Lily exclaimed, "I'm surprised that even worked!"

"Uh oh, looks like he's now confident with the kettle."

James was once again pouring water into the kettle, and the girls waited with bated breath to see what he was going to make next.

"No no no no…" Lily muttered. James was pouring porridge oats into the kettle.

Dorcas looked up to the sky, saying a little prayer to any of the gods that would be willing to help in a situation like this.

The mixture within the kettle spluttered and breathed, and it looked very much like it was going to come alive.

"What the- Merlin, Mr Potter!" Cried McGonnagall as she rushed over to the scene of the crime, "Are you trying to blow the thing up?"

"No Professor," he replied, furrowing his brows, "I was just making porridge?"

She sighed, how could she put up with these boys for nearly another two years?

"Mr Potter," she said calmly, turning the kettle off, "You boil the water and then pour it over the porridge." Professor McGonnagall spent the next few minutes showing him how.

When all the Marauders sat back down with the girls, they looked like they had been through quite an ordeal.

"You absolute nitwits." Lily said firmly.

Sirius shrugged, "We've got breakfast; I'd say that's a win."

The other boys nodded.

"And," James added, "It can't get worse from here."

He wasn't entirely wrong; many of the Marauders usual weekend did involve wands, but they could easily be adapted. Some of the day was spent quietly reading in the dorms, some was spent just chatting and some was spent trying to explore some more of the castle. Sirius, though he had been getting on with the Marauders that morning, spent the day with the girls because he didn't want to risk anything going wrong with the Marauders. The other meals were served that day in their usual fashion, as Dumbledore felt that the school couldn't be trusted with more difficult cooking. However, speaking of usual fashion, the teachers caused much amusement by wearing Muggle-style teacher wear. Dumbledore himself dressed in a flowery shirt and some flared jeans, which wasn't very muggle-teacher but it was what Dumbledore wanted to try wearing.

The Halloween feast went ahead as usual that night. Many students had an even greater appetite from the day of functioning without their wands; it was a struggle for everyone who hadn't done it before. James sat at the Gryffindor table with his friends looking proud. He had sorted his clothes out during the day, and was now wearing his much more usual grey hoodie.

"We did it Marauders! Hopefully that showed the Ministry how much we love muggles."

Remus looked at James sceptically, "It's not over yet, Prongs. Remember how pride comes before a fall?"

"Not for me it doesn't." James said, stuffing his face full of mashed potato.

"Charming." Remus said, turning away and rolling his eyes.

Dumbledore called for everyone's attention at the front of the room.

"I hope you are all enjoying this year's Halloween feast and I hope you have all enjoyed the day - it has been enlightening. I would like to thank and award James Potter 10 house points for his involvement in organising the day. It is important to show kindness and acceptance in troubled times like these, and James has been a role model. Your wands will all be available from your Heads of House after the feast, and please use any new skills you have learnt today in future."

There was a general round of applause for James, though many Slytherins didn't partake in it. Dumbledore lifted his glass to him, and smiled with a kind twinkle in his eye. James also noticed Lily clapping, and his cheeks flushed scarlet, which he quickly tried to hide.

The 6th year Gryffindors all left the Hall together, babbling excitedly about what they had seen happening that day. They had reached an empty 5th floor corridor, when a gang of Slytherins suddenly appeared. Avery stood at the forefront, wand drawn menacingly. Flanking him were familiar faces, such as Mulciber, Snape, Nott and Dolohov and a few unknown people.

"Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew, Evans, Meadowes and Mistle," he snarled. A sick smile twisted his features as he held his wand up at them.

"I'm here too." Sirius interjected sadly.

"Not the time, Sirius." Lily muttered.

"What a nice surprise to bump into you all tonight, and Merlin, unarmed as well. What an absolute treat." Avery continued, causing snickers to ripple through the other Slytherins.

"It wouldn't be such a treat if we were armed, you cowards." Marlene snarled and she tried to move forward, but Dorcas grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Don't do anything stupid, Marls."

No one prevented James from stepping forward.

"Well as much as I would enjoy this gathering too, Avery," he said stepping slowly forward, "I do think it might be time for getting to bed. You know how it is after a feast: you eat too much and then you're immediately warm and sleepy," Behind him, the Marauders started to pull the girls back, all of them edging down the corridor, "So I might just have to cut this short," James finished, and swung his fist back and threw it into Avery's nose, which spurted with blood, "Run guys!"

The majority of them didn't need to be told twice; the Marauders had caught on to what James was doing and Marlene and Dorcas were being dragged with them. Lily, on the other hand, hesitated for a second, realising how far behind James was going to end up being. As he began to ran, James grabbed her hand, and they sprinted after the others, but groups of them headed off in different directions.

Sirius, Remus and Marlene headed up the first flight of steps they found, bounding up two steps at a time. The sounds of footsteps echoing behind them spurred them on. Their hearts felt like they were going to break out of their chest as they pushed themselves to the absolute limits. When Remus started to slow, Sirius grabbed hold of him and tried to carry him along. Marlene grabbed his other side and they tried to stumble their way to the Gryffindor tower.

"Not so fast."

Dolohov and two others stood behind them, lip curled unpleasantly.

"Marlene, go." Sirius muttered and tried to shoo her away with his eyes, "they're more interested in me and Remus."

"No." Marlene said firmly, "I couldn't let you two have all the fun."

Sirius rolled his eyes and berated himself for only being friends with Gryffindors, because Merlin, they could be so stubborn sometimes - always the knight in shining armour whether they were wanted or not. All the heroics could be tiring.

"What do you want, Dolohov?" Remus said cautiously as he tried to regain his breath.

"To prove that being a muggle doesn't get you anywhere. They're a weak and miserable species, and that this day was futile."

Sirius smirked, "Sounds like jealousy to me."

Dolohov scoffed and shook his head, as his cheeks reddened.

"Yeah Sirius, my mum always told me that people who were being mean were secretly just insecure themselves. What are you insecure about Dolohov? Is it your hair? I could definitely understand that." Marlene jibed.

"Or maybe it's your nose? Merlin, looking in the mirror and seeing that every morning must really hurt your feelings."

"Oh stop Sirius, we wouldn't want to point out something that the boy hasn't already noticed and make him even more insecure. Anyway, I think it must be the chin."

Dolohov was clearly getting more and more enraged as the two jabbed at him like circling hyenas.

"Well at least I've got a wand." He hissed, and aimed it at Sirius.

"What is going on here?"

The three breathed a quiet sigh of relief as McGonnagall came round the corner. She narrowed her eyes angrily at the Slytherins.

"And what would you three be doing in this part of the castle at this time?"

Dolohov lowered his wand and looked round at his friends, who shook their heads.

"Nothing Professor, just seeing how much worse we could have it."

They sauntered off, leaving the Gryffindors stood in the now empty corridor.

"Right, off to bed you three." McGonnagall demanded, turning to her students, "I'll give you your wands tomorrow morning personally."

She then shooed them to right outside the Common room, leaving them no choice but to head up to bed rather than look for their friends.

Lily and James had kept running along the same floor, darting from corridor to corridor. James thanked the heavens for all that Quidditch training. He could feel Lily's hand starting to pull him back as she became tired, so he shoved them both into an empty classroom, hoping that they'd lost the Slytherins.

James slammed the door behind them as they pretty much fell into the room. He looked around desperately and moved a desk in front of the door.

"You think that will stop someone with a wand?" Lily whispered, laughing at him quietly.

"No, but it gives me a false sense of security." James responded. He joined her sitting on the floor next to the wall, closing his eyes and resting his head against the hard stone, "That was a close one."

"Yeah, thanks for creating the diversion, even though it was a little stupid."

James shrugged and turned his head to look at her. "Hey, I'm a Gryffindor: I face my problems head on without much thought for the consequences."

Lily chucked and shook her head. "Let's just hope that we're never caught without our wands again."

He made a noise of agreement and the two sat in silence, ears pricked for any noise of the Slytherins hunting them. There was none.

"I hope the others are ok." Lily said, chewing her lip.

"They're with the Marauders, Evans; they'll be fine."

"Correction. Some of them are with Marlene; they'll be fine."

"We can be much scarier than Marlene!"

Lily laughed, "You're totally dictated by your emotions, Sirius is more about being here for a good time rather than a long time, Peter is a sweetheart and Remus can't exist without chocolate, so forgive me for not trembling in fear every time I see you. Marlene, on the other hand, can certainly strike fear into people's hearts."

James pondered for a moment, "Alright, the stuff about all the others may be true, but I'm too macho to take a hit to the ego like that so I will have to disagree with your statement."

"Did you just call yourself macho?"

"Yep, deal with it Evans."

He watched her as she laughed. The corner of her eyes crinkled and little dimples appeared in her cheeks. Her eyes seemed to almost brighten a shade, and it made him decide that making Lily Evans laugh was definitely in his list of top ten favourite things to do. She shivered a little after her laughed died away and he looked concerned.

"You cold?"

She nodded, "We're in a random unheated classroom in the middle of a drafty castle late at night, Potter. It's not entirely unexpected that I'm cold."

"Merlin Evans, I didn't need the sass. I was just wondering if you wanted to borrow my hoodie is all."

She glanced at him, not knowing what to say. Wearing a boy's hoodie seemed to be a big deal, but she was quite cold and would really like to fix that.

"Yes, thank you." She answered, not meeting his eye.

He pulled off the hoodie and handed it to her. She put it on and felt the warmth that he had left, and the strong smell of pine and mint that enveloped her. Lily curled up, feeling her eyes starting to droop and James took a minute to 'rest his eyes'. And that was how Lily Evans and James Potter ended up falling asleep in an empty classroom on Halloween night - a most unexpected event.

Dorcas and Peter had run back down some stairs, hoping to reach the rest of the Hogwarts population again. However, they were corned in a dark and empty corridor on the 4th floor. Dorcas looked around for Peter desperately, wondering how on earth they could protect themselves, but he had somehow disappeared, so she turned to face the Slytherins alone.