A/N: Once again, thanks for all of the reviews! I'm sorry that this story is going so slowly, but I've been slightly desperate for ideas, and at one point my computer crashed so I lost half of this chapter and had to retype it. But it's all okay now, so please read and review!

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Lily tapped her foot impatiently. She was sitting in a green armchair in the Slytherin Common Room, her eyes glued on the numbers that encircled the dial of the silver clock hanging from the stone wall above the fireplace – now holding quietly smoldering logs. There was no one else in the Common Room besides her, but she didn't notice that. She was paying attention to the clock. It now read eleven forty. She had five minutes more to wait.

At eleven forty-five exactly, she and Remus would make their way down to the Forbidden Forest together – to meet with Voldemort. Remus had used Lily's idea of taking a broom to get help and decided instead on taking three brooms for all of them. (Remus didn't own a broom, so two of them would share one.)

Lily wasn't yet sure what they would find in the forest. All she knew was that Remus was going to meet Voldemort there. She didn't even know if James and Sirius would be there with him. And neither she nor Remus had managed to figure out who the 'third' victim had been – for the letter clearly stated that Voldemort had kidnapped three students.

Lily wasn't even sure whether she was doing the right thing by helping Remus. She knew it was a good thing, but good things weren't always right, were they? Remus, James, and Sirius were Gryffindors. She was a Slytherin. And no matter how much she wanted to help them, how could she be sure that this just wasn't another one of their silly pranks? Remus could have made the whole thing up just to trick her. And even if this wasn't a prank, what was she doing, defying her own friends to help someone she had never even talked to till this week? If Severus found out about this – she didn't want to think about that.

The clock chimed the third quarter of the hour. It was time. Lily got up slowly. It felt strange to not wear robes. She was wearing Muggle clothes – a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. Remus had said it would be easier to move in Muggle clothing than in robes, and she had been happy to comply. She liked to have something between her legs rather than just around them.

Whoever invented pants was a genius. Whoever invented skirts, dresses, and robes must be rotting in Hell…

Silently, Lily walked out of the Common Room, shutting the trapdoor behind her slowly. She looked around her, but couldn't see Remus anywhere. She walked along the empty hallway for a bit, trying to be as quiet as possible, but she couldn't help the echoes of her footsteps along the hallway. She was about to call out Remus' name when someone clamped a hand over her mouth. She was too shocked to scream.

"Lily, it's me!" hissed Remus.

Lily whirled around as he let go of her, but she couldn't see anything. She kept revolving on the spot, trying to find him, and it wasn't until he spoke again that she understood where he was.

"It's James' Invisibility Cloak. Get under it so we can go," he whispered again.

As soon as she found him and covered herself, they set off down the hall. She couldn't help notice how tall Remus was – he was a good half-foot taller than her short 5'3". But she didn't pay much attention to that. She was cold.

You should have thought to bring a sweater.

"It's raining – that's good," Remus said softly to her as they passed through the double-doors from the Great Hall.

"How is that a good thing?" Lily asked, shivering.

"There won't be any footprints in the morning. And no one will be able to hear us," he explained. "You aren't too cold, are you?"

"No, it's okay. I'll get used to it. It rains a lot where I live. I like the rain. I just don't like the cold. Rain is cool. It's fun. Don't you love how it sounds? It has its own rhythm – like drumbeats…"

"You're starting to scare me…"

"What – haven't you ever listened to the rain before?" she asked, surprised.

"Not really – I've got better things to do."

Lily fought the urge to punch him on the nose. Instead, she stepped on his foot – hard.

"What was that for?" Remus asked her, massaging his toes.

"For insulting me – that's what."

"Right – remind me again why James likes you?"

"Shut up…" Lily said softly.

"Oh, oops – sorry – I didn't mean to –"

"It's okay. Just don't mention it again," Lily said, blushing furiously.

She was glad it was dark. She knew they had better keep going, but she pulled Remus back. She had to teach him a thing or two.

"Stop – and listen."

"Listen to what?"

"To the rain…"

Remus shot her a quizzical look, but complied with her request nevertheless. And he was glad he did. Lily was right; the rain did have a kind of rhythm to it. It was falling in big, heavy drops, splashing against the ground and flowing around them in tiny streams. There was a kind of magical beauty to it that he hadn't seen before.

He looked towards where Lily was, and then realized that she wasn't there. Pulling the Invisibility Cloak off of him, he saw that she, too, had taken it off. She was standing not far off, spinning about with her arms stretched out, the rain streaming through her hair and down her face. She was soaked to the skin now that she wasn't wearing the cloak any longer. He shook his head and walked up to her.

"Lily, do you want to dance in the rain or help James? It's your choice. I'm going to help James," Remus said.

"Okay, let's go," she said, grinning at him as she ran her hands through her wet, auburn hair.

"You like the rain, now, too, don't you?" she asked him.

He just smiled silently. They put the cloak back on and ran towards the broomshed near the Quidditch Pitch. Surprisingly, it took them less than a minute. Once they were inside, they took the cloak off again. Lily walked around, looking for her broom, as Remus looked for Remus' and Sirius' – or any other broom that belonged to a Gryffindor. Whereas a broom was a prized possession only to be used by its owner in the eyes of Slytherins, Gryffindors believed that brooms were meant to be shared. After they had collected them, they walked out into the rain again. Now, both of them were wet through, and the brooms were getting slightly wet too.

Lily mounted her broom and Remus got on behind her, holding the other two. He draped the cloak over them again, and they flew into the darkness. In less than two minutes, they were at the edge of the forest, near Hagrid's cabin.

Remus dismounted and handed the cloak to Lily, who wore it and flew slowly behind him. They weren't quite sure where to go, and just walked blindly into the forest. In a couple of minutes, though, Lily spotted a light in the distance, and she flew low to tell Remus. They went in the direction of the light, and soon they came into a clearing, where a big fire had been lit. Both Remus and Lily stopped in their tracks when the true meaning of their surroundings hit them.

Two hooded, cloaked figures were standing across from the fire, talking in low voices. Behind them, James and Sirius were bound to one another and a tree, facing away from the other. No one had spotted Remus and Lily's appearance. Lily was the first to come to her senses, and was about to dart forward, but Remus held her back just in time. She was still holding the other two broomsticks. They exchanged glances and nodded. Lily flew high until she was more than twenty feet above them, and went closer to Sirius and James, where they were being held. She hovered above them, waiting for Remus to make his entrance.

As Remus walked forward, he accidentally stepped on a dry twig, making it snap in half. The two hooded figures whirled around, warned by the sound, and saw him approaching them. Remus stopped in his tracks.

"Ah, Mr. Lupin, so you have decided to come after all?" the taller figure said.

"Yes, so can James and Sirius go, now?" Remus asked cautiously.

"It isn't that easy, werewolf-boy," the other person said.

"Peter – is that you?" Remus spat.

So Lily was right, after all. Peter is in with all of this.

They both pulled back their hoods. Peter was shivering, but he had a menacing grin plastered on his face all the same. Voldemort beckoned to Remus to come closer, and so he took two more steps forward.

"Do you want me to let your little friends go?"

"Who's the third person?" Remus asked.

"I should have thought that was obvious."

"Who is it, Voldemort?"

"It's me, you idiot," Peter exclaimed.

"Oh, is it? Then, I needn't be worried. I thought you'd gotten someone else more important. I suppose not," Remus said coolly, glaring at them nevertheless.

"Shut it, you," Peter glared back.

"Now, now, Wormtail, we must keep our tempers. We have a deal to make, after all," Voldemort cut in.

"What do you want with me?" Remus asked icily.

He had noticed a blur in the air above where James and Sirius were tied up. Lily was going to make her move, now. He had to keep them distracted for long enough so that they could get away at the very least.

"I want you, my boy. I want you to join me. You will be a very valuable possession – if I can acquire it. I want nothing more or less than to be your ally. Join me, and you may very well find yourself a worthy comrade. Refuse my offer, and you will only make me your enemy," Voldemort hissed.

"You were my enemy from the moment you kidnapped them!" Remus yelled.

On the other side of the clearing, Lily was whispering in James' ear.

"James, hush; be quiet! It's me – Lily. I came with Remus, and I've got to get you two out of here before they notice you're gone!" she whispered.

"Lily!" both James and Sirius whispered together.

"Stand back – I'm going to cut through these, okay?" she whispered to them, still riding all three brooms while wearing the cloak.

She descended slowly, and holding out her wand, she used a clean Severing Charm to cut through the ropes. In a matter of seconds, they had all fallen. Using an Illusion Charm, she made an optical illusion of the ropes, so that it looked as though they were still bound together.

"Stay here – and don't move. I'm going to give Remus a broom…" she muttered as she flew off towards Remus, leaving two brooms behind.

"You fool, that is not the way to speak to Lord Voldemort. I demand more respect, you see – curse him, Wormtail!"

"Cr – Crucio!"

In a second, the forest was filled with Remus' earsplitting yells as he rocked about on the ground with his hands and legs bent behind him. Lily fought the urge to scream herself as she descended upon him. In a moment, she looked at Voldemort out of pure hatred, and pulling out her wand again, she aimed at Peter and muttered a quick curse. Peter fell down – petrified. The curse was lifted. As quick as lightning, she pulled Remus onto her broom, covered him with the cloak and flew off towards James and Sirius.

Not bothering to be quiet, she yelled, "Get up here, right now! Come on, hurry up!"

James and Sirius didn't need to be told to be fast. They ran towards the brooms she had left them and mounted them. In a flash, they were by her side. Sirius pulled Remus onto his broom, as Lily's broom was specially made for Keepers – not meant to take more weight.

In five minutes, they were back in the broomshed, putting all the brooms back. Lily was panting with fear and excitement, and James and Sirius were massaging their arms where they had been burned by the rope. Remus was still only half-able to walk.

The four ran towards the castle, too panicked to use the cloak. James stuffed it in his pocket as he struggled to support Remus. Luckily, he was starting to regain feeling in his own legs, and could run on his own.

"We – we made it," Lily said, breathing heavily as they approached the castle.

"Yeah, we did," Sirius said, looking over his shoulder to make sure they hadn't been followed.

"That little rat – I can't believe him," Remus shouted, referring to Peter, of course.

"This isn't the time to worry about things like that. We have to go and tell Dumbledore," James exclaimed as he ran through the Great Hall.

The other three ran behind him, trying to catch up. As they approached the gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office, they heard someone come up behind them.

"Professor Dumbledore, we've got to tell you something!" Sirius said quickly.

"And I've got something to tell you four, too," he said, smiling.

He pulled out his wand and pointed it at each of them in turn.

"Obliviate!" he said, erasing their memories.

All four of them blinked. What had happened?

"Well, students, I must say, you'd better be off to bed, now. I'm glad you managed to rescue Potter and Black, but that's no excuse for staying up after hours."

"Oh, yes, Professor…" they muttered.

They walked away still puzzling over the night's occurrences. They vaguely remembered what had happened, but there was something missing. What had they wanted to tell Dumbledore? Why were they aching all over – and why had they even been in the Forbidden Forest in the first place? Nothing made sense to them.

"Well, we'll sleep on it. It's bound to come back to us in the morning," Remus said, shrugging as he, James, and Sirius went their way towards their Common Room, and Lily to hers.

"Well, well, well – that's what you think, werewolf," called Dumbledore.

For the second time that day, the Professor was not who they thought he was. With a flick of his wand, his entire appearance changed. He was Professor McGowan.

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