Hi all!

I'm so sorry about the wait for this chapter; I left to go camping before I got the chance to finish and post this chapter. But while I was gone I finished it and wrote another chapter, so I will post two chapters tonight. Therefore, there will be no note before the next chapter.

Again, I'm sorry for the wait but I hope these chapters are worth it!

Disclaimer: Anything recognizable belongs to J.K. Rowling.

. . .

Two days later, as the Gryffindor sixth years walked into Charms, James grabbed the back of Remus and Peter's robes to stop them from entering with the others. They both looked at him with curiosity, and he quickly explained.

"Tomorrow is Padfoot's birthday and I assume you got stuff in Hogsmeade for him, but we need to plan something big since he's the first of us to turn seventeen. I thought we could meet outside after this last class is done, but we need to distract him with something."

Remus nodded, and said, "Why don't you ask Lily to help out? She cares about Sirius too and would be mad if we left her out of this. Plus, she can ask Marlene to take up Sirius's attention for a little bit. And she might have some good ideas."

James felt weird about asking Lily to help with Sirius's birthday, but he didn't know why, so he just nodded and agreed. "I'll ask her if I have time before class starts. See you guys outside."

They entered the classroom and split up. Remus and Peter headed over to Sirius, Marlene, and Dorcas, and James walked to the table occupied by Lily, Frank, Alice, and Mary. When he sat down, Alice and Frank were whispering to each other and Mary was searching determinedly through her bag, so James inclined his head toward Lily.

"I need you to ask Marlene to keep Sirius inside and distracted for about an hour after this class is over," he said quietly, in case Mary wasn't as occupied as she appeared. When Lily looked at him in confusion, he added, "I'll explain afterward."

She gave him another confused look before going over to Marlene and relaying the message into her ear. She barely made it back into her seat before Flitwick entered and started class, not that she would have gotten in trouble with him. She nodded just slightly at James before they turned their attention to Flitwick's directions. Or at least, Lily did. Half, or maybe an eighth, of his mind was brainstorming Padfoot's birthday while the rest was, as always, thinking about her.

Unfortunately, when James shook himself out of his thoughts it was to discover that their assignment was not going to be particularly easy. Lily shook her head and smiled, her red hair shining and rippling down her back like a fire.

"Look who's decided to rejoin reality," she said through her smile, making James blink twice, and hard, to try to focus himself. "The spell is on the board."

He tried to smile as normally as possible back at her, but the weird look she gave him told James he had failed. He cleared his throat, and when he spoke his voice was, thankfully, normal.

"I doubt I missed anything that important."

Lily rolled her eyes in response. "So, why was I supposed to ask Marlene about that?" she asked while making the vinegar in her goblet turn to wine as they were directed.

James tried to follow suit before answering, so as not to attract Flitwick's attention, but he only managed to make his vinegar slosh around.

"Sirius's birthday is tomorrow, and we need to plan something for him but can't have him know what we're doing. So Remus suggested we ask Marlene to distract him, and we thought you could help us with that – and the rest of our planning," he explained, hoping she'd agree. But he shouldn't have worried, because there was no hesitation in her eyes, only a desire to help her friends.

"Of course. Where are we meeting?"

"Outside, but I'll just walk with you." She smiled once more at him, the open friendship in the look exciting fireworks in his stomach before Alice pulled her into another conversation. And James was left wondering when he had started to read her so well and yet also be so confused by a smile.

When Charms was finally over, Marlene pulled Sirius out of the room ahead of everyone else. James was happy that his best friend was happy, but he was also jealous of, and slightly nauseous from thinking about, what Sirius and Marlene could be doing for the next hour. And seeing Sirius and Marlene together, as with all other couples, made him wish even more he could be with Lily. But he pushed the feeling down and walked with her outside the room, where they joined Remus and Peter and continued down the corridors until they reached the doors.

As he always did, James looked over at the Quidditch pitch and briefly fantasized about flying, the rush of the wind on his face and whipping through his hair. Despite his recent Quidditch accident, peace still fell over him, just as it always did when he was outside. The weather was beautiful for a November afternoon, sun shining and no wind, so very unlike the stuffy castle. They sat down in their usual spot, under the big beech tree, and James saw Lily smile slightly, though about what he couldn't tell. He'd think that the tree held bad memories for her, for she had lost her best friend not far from it, but apparently not.

Remus pulled out a piece of parchment from his bag and set it down between the four of them, saying, "I started brainstorming ideas during Charms –"

"You weren't paying attention?" James asked with a mock gasp. "What's gotten into you, Moony?"

Remus just rolled his eyes. "I figured Lily could help if I was really having problems with it, and I did pay attention while he was talking. Anyways, I wrote down a few ideas, but I'm not sure many of them are good."

The other three all leaned in to read it, with James and Lily accidentally bumping heads. James felt his face heat and his stomach jolt but didn't look up to see her reaction. Then they both muttered apologies at the same time, increasing his discomfort. Unsurprisingly, Lily finished reading before James and Peter and straightened up first. When James reached the end of the list a few seconds later, he saw that she had regained her composure except for a slight flush. She didn't see the look because she was reaching into her bag for something.

"I thought about it a little as well after James told me what we were doing, but I didn't have a chance to write it down. I can add those ideas to the list, then we can keep adding any others we come up with," she said, pulling out a quill and another piece of parchment. "And about your list, Remus… How would you manage to sneak him into Hogsmeade?"

James, Remus, and Peter exchanged looks, silently conferring on whether to tell her the truth. James wanted to and Remus's expression said he did as well. Peter's wide eyes conveyed that he was fine with what the two of them decided. Slowly, James reached into his bag and found the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauders' Map. But he didn't pull them out yet. He trusted Lily, but they had never shown anyone these secrets before.

"Lily, the things I am about to show you are Marauder secrets. If you want to know them, you must become an honorary Marauder and solemnly swear to never tell anyone else about any of this," James said seriously. Remus laughed quietly and Peter snorted but neither of them stopped or corrected him. "Do you agree?"

Lily looked skeptical, but said, "I agree to never tell anyone, but aren't I already kind of an honorary member?"

The boys looked at each other again, and Remus responded, "You have a point. Go on, James, just show her."

So James slowly pulled the map and Cloak out and handed them to Lily. Her attention caught on the Cloak and she gasped, holding it up. James ignored what his heart did upon hearing the sound.

"This is an Invisibility Cloak, isn't it?" she said in wonder. "This is how you rarely get caught."

"Yes, but also because of that," James said, pointing to the map which at the moment was blank.

She picked it up, turned it over, and opened it. "Your success is all due to a blank piece of parchment?"

"Not just any parchment!" Peter said excitedly. Remus pulled out his wand and touched the tip to the map.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," James, Peter, and Remus chanted together.

Lily's eyes were fixed on the parchment as ink seemed to bloom from Remus's wand and create a map of Hogwarts.

"I'm not sure what I expected, but this wasn't it," she murmured, opening it. "It's so detailed. And what are these passages? I don't remember ever seeing them." She pointed to two that she had spotted.

"Those are two of Hogwarts's seven secret passageways," answered James. "We found most of them in our first two years, but we add to the map whenever we find something new."

"Wait – you made this?" she asked, sounding astonished. They didn't say anything, just nodded. "Woah - and everyone's names are on here too."

"That took a lot of time and complicated spell work to figure out," James said, unable to resist bragging just a little. "The Homonculous Charm allows the map to track everyone's location.

"It's a little creepy, but also very impressive," admitted Lily. "I can't believe the four of you did this." They shrugged, none of them wanting to brag too much. "Well, since we can clearly do it, I think Sirius would really like a trip to Hogsmeade, you know, for a chance to take his mind off of his brother."

"Sounds good to me," Remus said, and James and Peter were also quick to agree.

They finished their planning reasonably fast and went back inside as the sun set.

. . .

Lily didn't really want to admit it, but she was excited to sneak out of the castle for the first time. Excited, and nervous about being caught. But with the combined genius of her, James, Remus, and Peter, along with the help of the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauders' Map, she figured they had a pretty good shot at not being noticed.

Since even just the four Marauders could no longer fit under the Cloak, and Marlene, Lily, Alice, and Frank were also coming, they had to make four separate trips to get everyone into Hogsmeade, with Remus running the Cloak back and forth. As a prefect, he could claim he was doing rounds if he got caught, and he knew the passageways better than Lily did. Sirius had gone with the first group and was blindfolded through it all, for everything to remain a surprise, but Lily figured he probably had some idea of what they were doing.

Once they had all made it to the main road in Hogsmeade, James removed the blindfold and they all shouted, "Happy birthday!" at Sirius.

For the first time in three days, Sirius let out a real laugh and smiled genuinely. Lily felt her heart squeeze in sympathy to his situation, but she was incredibly happy and proud that she had done something to put that true smile on his face.

They all crowded into a large booth in the Three Broomsticks and ordered butterbeers. Rosmerta gave them amused but unsurprised looks, telling Lily that the Marauders had done things like this before. Everyone was laughing and talking at the same time, and the dark clouds that had hung above them for days disappeared. When Marlene and Sirius started snogging, everyone protested and complained good-naturedly but let them. Then Alice and Frank started too, leaving Lily, Peter, Remus, and James looking at each other awkwardly.

"I'm not snogging any of you!" Peter said, causing Marlene and Sirius to break away from each other to laugh.

Lily nudged Remus, who was sitting next to her, and said jokingly under her breath, "If Mary was here would you be joining the snog-fest?" She had picked up on some awkwardness between the two, and whenever she brought the subject up during their patrols Remus became very shifty.

Now, he just gave her a look and said mischievously, "Only if you and James were."

She shoved him into Peter, although that was an accident, and laughed. "I thought you were the nicest Marauder, Remus!"

He just shrugged it off and pushed her back, right into James.

He grabbed her shoulders and righted her. "What's Moony done to you?" he asked, which made her laugh harder.

Remus, thankfully, kept his mouth shut, and allowed Lily to avoid James's question.

When they began to run out of energy they went back up to the castle. Sirius surprised everyone by saying he wanted to go back with Lily first. They all, including Lily and especially James, looked at him curiously but he refused to say anything else. Only once they were inside and Remus had left with the Cloak did she find out why.

"I wanted to thank you, Lily," he started, "for being there for me. You're maybe the only person who knows what it's like, being separated from a sibling who now hates you. And well, since you've been there for me, I want you to know I'm here for you too, Lils." He smiled somewhat sheepishly at her, causing her own face to split into a smile.

"Look who's grown up," she said, causing him to shake his head and put an arm around her shoulders. "Seriously, though, I appreciate that."

They continued to Gryffindor Tower in comfortable silence, at least until two of their least favorite people appeared around a corner. Snape and Regulus gave them scathing looks, which Lily and Sirius returned, but everything would have passed if Sirius hadn't said anything. He did, though.

"Nothing to say, Reg?" His words seemed to have no impact on Snape, but Regulus's eyes shifted to glare past them. "Oh, that's right, the wannabe Death Eaters have taken everything from you, haven't they? Even your ability to stand your ground to your older brother," he scoffed.

"I don't need to talk to Mudbloods and bloodtraitors," Regulus said quietly, his voice full of hate.

Lily cursed in her head as Sirius whipped out his wand. The word no longer hurt her, but it was surprising to hear it from someone so young, someone who seemed so reluctant, and Sirius was now furious at his brother. He was snarling, and Snape and Regulus had also drawn their wands. Lily hastily pulled her own out, preparing to ward off an attack.

She heard two steps of footsteps and prayed they didn't belong any more Slytherins or anyone who would make the situation worse. When she saw that it was James and Peter, she was torn between gratefulness and worry. They both immediately drew their wands and pointed them at Regulus and Snape, the latter of whom must've realized they were severely outnumbered. He muttered something inaudible to Regulus, and they pushed past the Gryffindors. None of them lowered their wands for a good thirty seconds to make sure the two were truly gone.

"What happened?" James asked as they all turned to face each other.

Lily glanced at Sirius, who was staring blankly at the ground, before saying, "We were walking, and they came around the corner and –"

Sirius suddenly looked up, eyes blazing. "And Regulus called her a – a you-know-what," he snarled, shaking.

James looked at Lily, as if to verify Sirius's statement. She nodded slightly, knowing that her answer could only prompt more trouble but not able to lie. Sure enough, James's jaw tightened noticeably and he swore, turning around as if to go after them. She caught his arm though and forced him to stay put.

"James, don't. They aren't the most important thing right now," she said, with a pointed look at Sirius.

Sighing but giving her a look that said he was still beyond furious, he went over to his best friend and slung an arm over his shoulders. Lily took Sirius's other side and put her arm around his waist. Together they steered him toward the stairs to the tower and Peter followed, his wand still out just in case.

After getting through the portrait hole, James muttered a thank you to Lily before he and Peter took Sirius up to the boys' dormitories. Lily smiled and watched them go, her arms wrapped around herself, but when they were out of sight she sank into an armchair and broke into tears.

…

The full moon was approaching. It was almost two weeks after the second ill-ending Hogsmeade visit, and James was eager to be able to run around the grounds freely again. And since Lily already knew about Remus's condition, they wouldn't have to come up with an excuse for it. However, she didn't know about the other three being Animagi, nor did James particularly want to tell her and have her explode at him. They'd have to come up with something. But this couldn't dampen his high spirits as Friday, the night of the full moon, approached.

Friday night found James and Peter sitting with Lily in the Common Room. They appeared to be just doing homework and talking; but really, they were waiting for Sirius to come back so they could pretend to go to bed and then sneak out. James had finished his Charms essay on a new wind spell yesterday, and now was just writing random words, pretending to still be working on it. Peter was pretending to read a chapter in his Defense book, but his eyes weren't moving. Thankfully, Lily was absorbed in her Charms essay and she didn't notice.

Then the portrait hole banged open so suddenly and loudly that they all jumped. Peter dropped his book on his foot, Lily blotted her page, and James ripped his parchment.

Sirius had entered and was running toward, shaking and wearing a face white with terror. He cursed loudly.

"Prongs, I'm so sorry! I don't know what made me do it! I was so angry about Reg – it slipped out – I'm the worst friend ever! He was being so nosy and infuriating and I kept seeing him with Reg – I'm sorry!" he shouted. He looked insane.

James didn't understand anything he was saying. "Sirius calm down! What happened?"

Sirius looked at him with wide eyes, still shaking. "I ran into Snape outside the Hospital Wing; he was trying to get in and see what was wrong with Moony. I wasn't thinking, and he kept asking nosy questions about Remus, and I kept seeing him standing with Reg – I got so angry I told him to go down to the Whomping Willow. I told him how to freeze it, get down the corridor, everything! I'm so sorry, I didn't think!"

James's heart stopped beating. Sirius had told Snape everything? He was going to die . . . And it would kill Remus when he found out he was responsible . . .

"How could you do that to Moony?" he shouted, furious. "Lils, you need to stay here, don't follow me. Same with you, Wormtail. Sirius, just . . . don't do anything else stupid."

He ran out of the tower, down through the castle, and out onto the grounds, only trying to get there before Moony could do anything as a werewolf. He was slightly heartened to see that the Willow was still frozen - Snape must've only just gone in.

His breaths were labored and his heart beating furiously as he barreled through the tunnel in the roots and down the passage, a stitch searing his side. Catching sight of a figure at the end of it, he picked up his pace. Snape had just barely opened the door when James pulled him back and shut it. He knew it was enough though. Snape's face was white, eyes wide, lip trembling in shock. He had seen Moony, as a werewolf.

James towed Snape back to the castle and up to Dumbledore's office. He had to make sure Snape wouldn't tell anyone of what he had just seen, and Dumbledore was the only one who could force him to keep it a secret.

He knocked urgently on the office door, hoping Dumbledore could hear him. He was reminded of the night two weeks ago when he had last been here. The Slytherins had gotten off with only a few detentions. Thankfully, he heard Dumbledore's voice telling him to enter.

"James and Severus," Dumbledore said, only a little shock showing on his face. "What a surprise. Why did you need to see me?"

"Snape saw Remus in the Shrieking Shack, Professor, as a werewolf," James said, not wasting any time. Dumbledore's face turned unnaturally grave.

"I see. Are you hurt at all, Mr. Snape?" he inquired, to which Snape shook his head. "How did this come about?"

"Sirius accidentally told him, sir," James cut in, not wanting Snape to answer first.

"Ah. Mr. Potter, could you please fetch Mr. Black for me, then?" requested Dumbledore. James nodded. "Thank you."

James ran back down the tower Dumbledore's office was in, then around and up to Gryffindor Tower. He opened the portrait hole to find Sirius, Lily, and Peter waiting silently.

Not looking Sirius in the eye, he said, "You need to see Dumbledore."

None of them questioned who he was talking to. Sirius stood noiselessly and followed James back to Dumbledore's office.

When he knocked on the door this time, Dumbledore said, "Just a minute, please." An infinitely long minute passed, then he said, "You may enter now."

They walked in just as Snape was leaving, still looking shell-shocked. Sirius sat down, but James stayed standing.

"Mr. Snape will not tell anyone of this, I promise you," Dumbledore told them. "Now, Mr. Potter, I'd like a word with Mr. Black, please."

James left for the final time, not wanting to wait for Sirius and have to deal with him. He felt bad for Remus, who didn't have his friends' help during his transformation for the first time in a year. But he also felt incredible anger toward Sirius. How could he place that guilt on Remus? Or on James, if he hadn't gotten there in time?

He entered the Common Room and ignored Peter and Lily, going straight up to bed instead. But Lily's voice behind him made James pause briefly.

"Don't go too hard on him, James. He's grieving," she said sadly.

He didn't understand how she could be so sympathetic to Sirius. Did she understand at all? Not bothering to reply, he just continued up the stairs. She didn't say anything else, although he knew she was probably watching him walk away.

James pretended not to hear Peter or Sirius enter the dormitory later that night. He pretended to be asleep. He didn't know if he could face the morning.

. . .

For the rest of the week, Lily exhausted herself trying to simultaneously comfort and cheer up Sirius, spend time with Remus, Peter, and Alice, and change James's mind. It wasn't working too well, and by the time Saturday rolled around, she was completely fed up. Nobody stood a chance against her temper, which was only directed at one person. And they were about to get a piece of her mind.

After dinner that night, she stalked right up to the offender and fixed him with her most severe and hateful glare before addressing him, her words and tone sharp and icy.

"You need to stop this right now," she said, her voice soft to prevent eavesdropping but her glare still turned up. James's eyes widened and his expression became nervous, but she went on. "Sirius is sorry and miserable, Remus doesn't even care anymore, I'm exhausted, and you are acting like a petty four-year-old. Get over it, move on, and forgive him already!"

"He did something that shouldn't be forgiven!" James said in a fierce whisper.

Lily's temper rose. They hadn't had a row like this since fifth year when the whole house would gather to hear them yell at each other.

"He was grieving and angry! That kind of emotion makes people do things they regret! And he does regret it, so stop being a baby about this!"

"That's no excuse!"

"Think," Lily said, voice shaking from anger and frustration. "If Snape and all of them took me away, twisted my views, and made me join them, what would you do? Huh? You would do something just a rash as he did, and I'm just your friend! Regulus is his brother, his family. He's sorry now though, so why can't you forgive him?"

James's shoulders slumped and he said wearily, "Merlin, I'm sorry. I've been awful. An awful friend, an awful brother . . . You're right, Lils." He finally looked at her. "I would've done the same if it were him or Remus or Peter or you . . ."

"Don't apologize to me." Lily shook her head exasperatedly. "Go apologize to Sirius." She left and headed up the stairs, looking forward to her first unworried sleep in a very long week.