The morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Lily got up early to dress and get ready. When she got back from her shower, the other girls were rising slowly, complaining about the early mornings.

"The least they could do is let us leave when we want to leave," Kaylen grumbled, crawling out of bed and leaning against it from the floor. "That would make me so much happier."

"You are so lazy!" Lily cried playfully.

"You're just happy because you and Mr. Right are going out today," Brianna grumbled from the floor on the other side of her bed. Lily could just see the top of her head.

"You're right I'm happy," Lily replied honestly. "But I don't know if he's Mr. Right."

"Who else would be?" Kaylen asked. "James Potter?" She let out a deep, throaty laugh that was unlike her. "Not a chance."

Lily didn't answer. Her mind had scanned back to the conversation she and Remus had the day before about James always wanting things to be his way. Why did it seem so important to her? Shaking her head, she began to dress in the outfit that she had finally decided on the night before.

An hour later, the girls were exiting their common room, feeling a little more refreshed and awake. "Where did you arrange to meet Remus?" Kaylen asked, checking to make sure that she had her purse.

"In Hogsmeade at the bottom of the hill," Lily replied. "He thought it would be, um, weird if we met at school and went." In all honesty, Lily had absolutely no idea why Remus was so against meeting at the school, but she didn't press the matter. Sensing that it had something to do with James Potter, she accepted the idea easily.

It was rather warm outside for a December day. Brianna was in the middle of telling Kaylen and Lily what she wanted to buy for her family for Christmas when a flurry of powdery snow hit them from behind. Spinning around, the caught James Potter lurking behind them.

"You slime!" Kaylen yelled, hurling a volley of curses and insults at him. "You don't really have a reason to live! You're a lowdown, inconsiderate aggravation to every living creature!"

"Good use of vocabulary!" James cried, rushing past her. He stopped in front of Lily, causing her quick stride to be halted. "In a hurry to meet your boyfriend?" he asked, his eyes steely cold.
Not used to seeing him without his friends backing him up, Lily felt somewhat braver in front of him. "No," she said, holding her head high. "Just in a hurry to get away from your darling face." On a second thought, she added, "I don't know what it matters to you anyway."

"Oh, nothing," James replied, his face as hard as stone. "Nothing at all. Have fun on your little romp today." He tossed a pile of soft snow in her face and fled before she could stop sputtering the snowflakes out of her mouth.

"He's such a jerk," Brianna snarled as she watched his departing figure. She handed Lily a tissue from her coat pocket to wipe the melting snow off of her face. "And what's up with you two? He's always been a jerk to you, but never in this manner."

"Yeah, Lil, what's up?" Kaylen was staring at her friend intently. "Is he jealous or something that Remus got to you first?"

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, shoving the damp tissue into her own coat pocket. "Why would he be jealous?"

Kaylen and Brianna shared knowing glances. "What?" Lily repeated.

"We overheard Sirius and Peter talking," Kaylen admitted guiltily.

"More like we heard them talking and stopped to listen," Brianna piped up, receiving a dirty look from Kaylen.

"Anyway, the story is that James has liked you for a long time," Kaylen continued. "Apparently Remus knew that, but Remus liked you, too. Since you and he were already good friends, Remus asked you out, not to anger James, but because he sincerely liked you, too." Kaylen looked almost apologetic at this explanation.

"Black and Pettigrew have been discussing this?" Lily asked.

Brianna nodded. "Ellen Handy and Ryan Reed told us that James got so mad at Remus that he tried to fight him." She shuddered. "I wouldn't want to fight with James Potter; he curses everything that stands still long enough."

Lily was shaking with rage. The fact that everyone else in their year seemed to know about this while she was kept in the dark was almost too much for her. "How come no one told me?" she cried out, halting in her steps. "I'm involved in this; why didn't anyone tell me?"

"I'm sorry!" Kaylen cried. "But we just heard Sirius and Peter talking about it a few days ago. I didn't really want to tell you before your date with Remus. I didn't want to ruin it for you."

A bit of Lily's anger melted at these words and she softened. "Look, from now on, anything involving me, you guys have to tell me. Don't worry about ruining my time with anyone; I want to know everything that people are saying about me."

"Technically, it's not really about you," Brianna offered helpfully. "It deals more with the Marauders than you."

"The who?" Lily and Kaylen replied in unison.

Brianna rolled her eyes. "I forgot! I was talking to Peter Pettigrew in Charms a few weeks ago! He let it slip that he, Sirius Black, James Potter and Remus Lupin have been calling themselves the Marauders ever since they met and became friends."

It was Lily's turn to roll her eyes. Boys often let things 'slip' when they talked to Brianna. She called it 'a gift'. "What exactly is a Marauder?" she asked, resuming her brisk steps towards the village.

"Troublemakers, prowlers," Brianna replied. "I thought it was kind of cute. Apparently they get into all kinds of trouble."

"I suppose Peter let that slip, too?" Kaylen asked bitterly.

"No, that one he told me voluntarily."

The village appeared in front of them and all conversations and squabbles were forgotten. Hogsmeade always looked so magical in the wintertime, blanketed in white, glistening snow. The shop windows always looked so inviting that Lily felt the strong urge to visit every single one of them. Glancing at her wristwatch, she sighed.

"I better go meet Remus," she said, trudging through the snow towards the springtime grassy hill. "I'll meet you two back at Hogwarts at seven tonight."

"Planning to be with him all that time?" Brianna cracked and Lily just waved a hand to acknowledge that she heard Brianna's comment. She marched through the snow, furious with herself for even thinking of asking Remus about James' crush on her. It was a bitter internal struggle with the decision, but finally she ruled against it, thinking that it could really sour the mood if she brought up the subject of another boy on their first date.

As promised, Remus was waiting at the bottom of the hill for her. "Miss Evans," he greeted, dipping into a silly bow. Lily giggled. "Where would you like to go?" he asked, taking her arm.

Lily looked up the hill, shielding her eyes with her free hand from the bright sunlight reflecting off the snow. "How about there?"

"The shack?" Remus replied and unless Lily's ears were deceiving her, she detected a hint of panic in his voice. "Why do you want to go to the shack?"

"Because it's interesting," she replied, pulling closer to him. "Apparently, it's haunted. People say they can hear things from up there late at night."

"Where did you hear that from?"

Lily shrugged. "People."

Remus nodded, seeming eager to change the subject. "How about we go get a drink in the Three Broomsticks? I'm dying of thirst." When Lily agreed, he led her to the tavern doorway, pulling it open and ushering her inside. Pulling the chair out for her, Remus asked if she wanted a glass of Butterbeer.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Lily replied, her stomach turning at the mention of it. "I really don't think that my mindset agrees with Butterbeer. A glass of water will be just fine, thanks."

Remus laughed and left for the bar. Lily caught sight of her two friends in the corner of the tavern and tried to wave to them, but they seemed to be caught up in a frenzied conversation. Not wanting to get involved with the squabbling, she decided to keep to herself. She also noticed Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black in the other corner of the tavern, but unlike Brianna and Kaylen, the boys waved cheerfully and held their glasses up in the air.

"Where's James?" Lily mouthed towards Sirius and after three tries, he caught on to what she was saying. He shrugged, taking another swig from his mug. "Don't know," he mouthed back.

"Here you go." Remus appeared behind her and set a glass of water down in front of her. "I feel bad that all you want is water; are you sure you don't want anything to eat?" He sat down in the chair across from her, blocking her view of Sirius and Peter.

"I'm fine, thanks," she said, smiling and taking a drink from the glass. "I've only ever been in here once or twice before," she said, gesturing around. "I try to avoid these places with my friends."

"Why?" Remus asked, taking a drink from his own mug of Butterbeer. "You don't like crowds?"

"Not so much that as my friends are a little outrageous," Lily answered. "Kaylen, not so much, but Brianna's a handful. She's loud and opinionated and will argue with anyone that can hold their own. She's not so wonderful to have in a crowd full of talkative people."

Remus laughed. "She should talk to James. The two of them would get along wonderfully."

The comment was meant as a joke, but there was a sudden lull in the conversation as both of their minds drifted to James. Wondering where he could be, Lily found herself scanning the almost empty tavern. Other than Brianna, Kaylen, Sirius, Peter, Remus and herself, there were only about four other people, including the owner, who was serving drinks at the bar.

Lily just opened her mouth to ask Remus what had happened to James when the entire bar went silent. Glancing up at her friends, Lily noticed that they were staring apprehensively at the doorway. Turning in her seat, Lily saw that James Potter had just entered the tavern.