Chapter 1:

Disclaimer… I do not own Harry Potter or any related characters; they belong to J. K. Rowling and Warner Brothers

"Now you all have your assignments.  Have at it."

"Yes! I got Moony!  I'm gonna get a perfect grade!" Sirius yelled happily.

"Maybe, but first you have five feet of research to do," Remus replied with a slight smile.

"No, Moony!  I'm your best friend!  You can't do this to me!  I'm practically allergic to books!"  Sirius cried desperately.

"Wonderful! I got Evans." James sighed happily.

"Oh no, not again Prongs!  Duck and run for cover!" Sirius shrieked, causing a few of the girls to actually duck. 

"Don't worry, fellow Marauder, I shall save you! Silencio!" Remus cried out, earning a round of applause from Sirius.  James's mouth kept moving, unaware that nothing was coming  out.

*other side of the room*

"Oh man, I'm stuck with Potter," Lily groaned.  "Better go arrange a time to meet him in the Library so I don't have to do it all myself.  Lily shuffled over to where the Marauders were sitting.  "Potter, when should we meet in the Library to work on the project?"

James tried to say something, and finally realized that he wasn't able to hear himself.  Lily ignored him anyways and said, "I'll do some preliminary research and then we can get started.  How about we meet in the Library on, oh, say, Saturday at, maybe, ten?"  She gave James a piercing stare.

James mouthed something along the line of "But that's a Hogsmeade weekend!"  Lily did not seem to 'get' the message, so he finally gave in and nodded.

"Good.  Se you Saturday."  She turned as if to walk away, but then turned back with a slight smile on her face.  "Potter, you realize that this is pretty darn close to a date, so don't you dare skive off or next time you ask you'll end up with worse than a 'no.'"

Before waiting for a reply from him, she left.  James slowly grinned as he realized his luck.  Wait till he told Peter about this.  (A/N: Peter has had a near death experience after choking on frog legs.  Don't ask me why; I just hate him.  He is now recovering in the Hospital Wing after the six excruciatingly painful surgeries they did on him to get out other objects that he has ingested over time.)

*~*~*

"Alright Ginny, here's the plan. We sneak into the Library, 'borrow' all of the books about the Salem Witch Trials, do the paper, and return them one by one in the dead of night." Harry was outlining his research plan in a conspiratorial whisper to Ginny.

"Or we can just check them out and not run the risk of getting caught?"

"That's so crazy it just might work."  They both laughed.

"Good job, Sherlock."

"Let's go, Watson."

Laughing, Harry and Ginny headed off to the Library.  On the way they ran into a frantic Hermione and a confused Ron.  Hermione seemed to be under the impression that the essay was due the next day. 

They found several old, heavy volumes and opened the largest.  Inside it was a handwritten note, written by two different people.

"The only reason anyone would use this stupid- it's not stupid- yes it is, book is in case of a boring- ahem- History of Magic project.  How can you say that? Cause it's true.  Anyways, the use the spell below and you'll go back in time to the actual Salem Witch trials.  We did; we passed.  If my memory serves me right- it probably doesn't- oh, shut it, we'll be behind one of the trees under and Invis- do you want to get in more trouble?- er, just give a little whistle and we'll appear.  Good enough for you? Yes. If you have anything like an Invisibility Cloak please bring it, mine's a bit torn.  I'll kill you!  No you won't.  We know who'll come- not at the time we won't, it won't have happened yet- oh, never mind.  Just show up and we can work together."

Harry and Ginny turned to each other.  "Wanna try it?" Ginny asked.

"Sure."

*~*~*

"Evans, hey EVANS!"

"What Potter?"  Lily placed her hands on her hips and she surveyed James, who had appeared to have run up several flights of stairs.

"I found a way- loads easier- bound to get top mark-"

"Well, spit it out."

"We can go back in time to get a hands on view.  It's better than a month's worth of research.  Heck, we could do the whole project and be back in time to Hogsmeade!"

"And you propose this- how?"

"Look, we just say this spell-"

*~*~*

"Oof."  Ginny landed on her rump in a snowy patch.  "I guess it worked?"

"Hey someone else came too!" a strange girl's voice called out.  It was slightly familiar to Harry.

Harry called out, "Do you have an Invisibility Cloak? I brought mine."

Another voice, this one male and again, very familiar, said, "Good, Mum still hasn't patched mine up properly."

There was a rustle, and suddenly it seemed as if a huge mirror had been placed in the middle of the clearing.

A/N: It'll probably be a few days until I post again, I have to go to the library myself and get a book about this stuff.  I've read it twice, and it's called A Break With Charity by Ann Rinaldi.  Hope you liked this chapter.  To those who reviewed: thanks.  And Bri, get online!