Back again and making up for lost time yesterday! Ha! I just ate a whole freakin' pack of tropical starbursts. I'm so bad! Ahhh! Anywho, Y'all need to read Kylah's fic—it's cool! And she's gonna be posting chapter 3 soon, so read it, review it, love it. And same for mine! Hehehe!

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Chapter 18

Hogsmeade

Lily awoke the next morning bright and early. Fresh fallen snow was smothering the Hogwarts grounds like a giant, white, blanket. Lily got dressed and headed down to the common room. There she saw the marauders gathered around a table whispering to themselves.

"Hey guys. What're you up to?" She said cheerfully, joining them at the table.

"Plotting." Sirius said naughtily.

"Plotting what, exactly?" Lily asked, her lips cracking a smile.

"We're plotting the ultimate test of the Marauder's Map." Remus chuckled.

"Oh, I'm intrigued! And how will you manage this?" Lily asked them.

"Well, as you know, our boy, James, is unable to go to Hogsmeade this year." Sirius began, clapping James on the back. "So we thought, why not test the map today?"

"Yes, but how?"

"I'm getting there!" Sirius said exasperatedly. "So while the rest of us are waiting in Honeydukes Candy Shop, James will be on his way to Hogsmeade."

"You can do that?" Lily said excitedly. "You'll sneak into Hogsmeade?"

"Right into the Honeydukes basement!" James said proudly. "It's going to be perfect!"

"Are you going to bring along your father's invisibility cloak?" Lily asked him.

"Are you joking? What's the point? Nobody will care." Peter answered for him. Lily scowled at the note of cockiness in his voice.

"It was just a question." Lily defended.

"A stupid one." Peter retorted.

"A wise Professor once said that there are no stupid questions." Lily said back, slapping a fake grin on her face.

"Whatever. It's just like you, Lily, to be quoting Hogwarts professors." Peter laughed. No one joined in.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Actually, it was Headmaster Dippet who said that. Not just some common teacher."

"Ooooh! I can see the difference there!" Peter laughed again coldly. Lily frowned and stood up sharply. She would slap him… who would stop her?

"Oookay!" Sirius said, standing up, too. "I think that's quite enough of that for one day!" He paused, then smiled sarcastically. "Can't we all just agree to disagree?"

Everyone but Peter and Lily chuckled. "I think you're right Sirius." Remus replied. "Lily? Peter? Shake hands and call it a truce."

"Time to bury the hatchet!" James piped in.

"Stick a fork in it, cause its done." Sirius added happily. Everyone stared at him then broke out laughing again.

"Okay. Fine by me." Lily replied, putting her hand out for Peter to shake it. Peter stared at her hand for a second, hesitating.

"Common, Wormtail. It's not that big of a deal." Sirius said encouragingly. Peter continued to stare. Then, as he made up his mind, he stood up and walked out of the room.

"I can't be a friend with someone who steals my friends." He said, closing the portrait hole behind him with a loud slam.

"Someone's bad off this morning." Remus said, biting his lip. "You think he's all right?"

"Sure he is. Wormtail always bounces back." James shrugged. "I mean, he's said that stuff before… don't worry, Lily. He didn't mean any of it."

"Whatever you say." Lily said, retracting her hand with as much dignity as possible. What was Peter's problem? "You know, if anyone should be mad, it's me." She said.

"Huh?"

"Well, he did try to kill me last year, after all." She said angrily. "Didn't he?"

"Yeah… I guess. I never really thought of it like that." James replied.

"Well he did, didn't he?" Lily said. "He stole my locket and flung it in the forest… he told James not to go in after me… he tricked Remus…"

"Calm down, Lily." Remus said.

"I am perfectly calm, Remus." Lily breathed. "And he has no reason to be mad at me. I never did anything to him."

"Whateva!" Sirius said. "Anybody up for breakfast before Hogsmeade?"

"Sure thing, ol' buddy, ol' pal." James said, taking Sirius's arm and the two of them skipped down to the Grand Hall together.

"How cute." Lily chuckled.

"Adorable." Remus said, rolling his eyes and laughing. "Care to join me for breakfast?"

"That all depends…" Lily said.

"On what?"

"If you can keep up." She said, offering her arm. Remus took it, and they skipped after James and Sirius.

"We SO beat you guys!" Lily laughed breathlessly, tumbling into a chair in the Grand Hall.

"Did not! It was a tie!" Sirius moaned.

"And you had a head start!" Remus added.

"Oh! I'm exhausted!" James said dramatically, putting a hand on his forehead and fainting into Sirius's arms.

"Geeze, drama queen. Contain yourself." Sirius said shoving James upright.

"I'm not a drama queen." James replied. "I'm a drama princess!"

"Big difference." Lily laughed. "Well I think you're a pretty, pretty princess."

"Why thank you, my dear." James said, pretending to flip his hair. "No autographs, please."

"No one asked for one, your highness." Remus said, bowing in his seat.

"That's because they can't see true talent when it dances naked in front of their faces." James snapped.

"You tell 'im, Jamie-boy." Sirius said proudly.

"That's right." James laughed. "Oh, and Si?"

"Yesh?"

"Don't call me Jaime-boy."

Lily, Belle and Madison arrived in Hogsmeade shortly after the marauders. James wasn't there, but they all headed straight to Honeydukes to wait for him. Hogsmeade always looked just like a Christmas card. All the houses had little thatched roofs and the streets were paved in cobblestones. It was the only all-wizard establishment in Britain next to Diagon Alley, and was it very popular.

Lily and her friends hurried to Honeydukes Candy Shop. They were surprised to see that it was crammed with Hogwarts students trying to buy candies and sweets. They waited around anxiously, pretending to be looking at the shelves and shelves of appealing candies.

Finally, just as they were about to give up on James, he appeared at Remus's side. The knees of his pants had some dirt stains and his face was a little flushed, but other than that, you couldn't tell that he hadn't arrived with his classmates.

"James!" Sirius called. "You made it! It's your birthday… not really, party anyway!" He sang, breaking out into a disco.

"Si, would you shut up?" James hissed. "I'm trying to keep a low profile, here." He said, looking nervously around the shop.

"Okay, okay." Sirius said. "Low profile, I get it."

"I guess the Map worked then, huh?" Lily asked.

"Like a dream!" James sighed, mellow-dramatically. "Now let's go visit Madam Rosmerta and get some butterbeers, okay?" He replied, leading the way out of the candy store and across the street to the pub, The Three Broomsticks.

"James! Sirius!" Madam Rosmerta called from the bar. "How are you all?" She asked cheerfully. She flipped her curly blonde hair, and threw down a dishtowel.

"Why hello, Rosie." Sirius said, pulling James up to the bar. "And how are you this fine winter morning?" He asked, kissing her on the hand.

She slapped his hand away playfully and said, "Just fine, boys. What can I get for you?"

"Seven butterbeers, if you please." James said, smiling. He and Sirius took a seat at the bar, and they chatted to Madam Rosmerta while she prepared the drinks and laughed hysterically at their jokes.

When the drinks were ready, James and Sirius brought them over to the table. Lily drank deeply from her cup, and felt her insides instantly warm. It felt like the liquid was sinking into her bones, and comfortably heating her up.

When she had finished, Remus asked, "Hey Lil, you want to go for a walk?"

"Con mucho gusto." Lily replied in Spanish.

"Glad to hear it." He chuckled, as Lily stood up.

"Thanks for the drink, Rosmerta. My money's on the table." Lily called.

"My pleasure, Lily. Have a nice day!" Rosmerta said, walking over to their table to collect the money before James and Sirius pocketed it.

The wind picked up as Remus held the door open for Lily. Her red hair blew into her face, and she twisted it around with her hands to control it. She walked beside Remus- their elbows touching.

"Where are we going?" She asked, as the number of houses started to thin. Remus smiled.

"I'm not sure." He said.

"Okay." Lily laughed. "You're being spontaneous, then?"

"Hey-- the well-mannered marauder can be unpredictable sometimes, right?" Remus said cheerfully.

"Sure he can." She laughed again.

As the road grew steeper, they stopped talking. Remus led her up the winding path with a grin on his face. Her hair whipped her face, but it was comforting being in Remus's company. He wasn't like the other marauders. It was almost like you could read him… or he could read you-- One of the two. But you didn't have to pretend in front of him. You could be who you wanted to be.

"The Shrieking Shack?" Lily asked, as they reached the top of the hill and looked at the huge, rotting mansion. The Shrieking Shack was supposed to be the most haunted dwelling in Britain, but Lily and the marauders knew better. It was Remus who made the frightening sounds there in his werewolf form.

"Yeah." Remus said. He almost looked surprised. "I didn't expect to come here."

"Why not? That's where that road leads, isn't it?" Lily chuckled, leaning against one of the old fence posts, and looking up at the house. It creaked and groaned a little in the wind. "You know, Remus? The Shack would be really pretty if somebody fixed it up."

"I guess so. I never really thought about it much." Remus said, joining Lily by the fence. "It's too old now, of course."

"Yeah." Lily agreed. "But you've seen the inside too, haven't you?" She said. "Is it as pretty as the outside could be?"

"No. Not really." He said softly.

Lily sighed and didn't say anything. She shouldn't have brought up the fact that he'd been inside the ancient house. It was a touchy subject with him sometimes-- and for a good reason.

"Aw, Lily. Don't get all quiet on me now." Remus said, his tone playful.

"I hadn't noticed." She lied, not taking her eyes off the house.

"We could talk about it, if you want." Remus suggested.

Lily decided to play dumb. "What?"

"You know, about me being a werewolf." He said. "You look kind of uncomfortable. I don't mind talking about it."

Lily noticed for the first time that he had been staring at her. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't mind." He repeated. "I just thought you might…"

"I'm fine." Lily said. She wondered if he could tell she was lying. Why was it so hard for her to open up to him?

"No you're not."

"How would you know?" Lily snapped.

"I can tell. You're not comfortable around me when you want to ask me something." Remus said with a twinkle in his eye that reminded her of Dumbledore.

"I'm fine, Remus." Lily said. She paused slightly, hesitating. "It's just… you kind of scare me sometimes."

"I scare you?" He said. His face fell. He opened his mouth for a second, to say something, but Lily spoke up quickly.

"No!" Lily interjected. "Not because you're a… a werewolf. It's something else… but I'm not sure what it is." She said. "It's kind of hard to explain. But it's not because of that… never because of that."

"Well, what is it?"

"It's strange. You're easy to talk to, but I don't know what to say. You're easy to trust, but I don't know if I can…" She said. "Okay, you think I'm stupid now…"

"No I don't." Remus said. "You're like a little sister to me. I don't know what we'd all do without you."

"And you're the greatest person I've ever met." Lily said seriously, putting her arm around him and gave him a one-arm hug.

"I try…" Remus said, laughing richly. "Want to head back?"

"Sure." She said. "Need an arm?" She asked, offering her elbow.

"Why not?" He said, laughing again. He wrapped his arm through hers and they walked down the hill together, joking and laughing.

When they reached the main street, they found the marauders, Belle, and Madison playing around outside Zonko's Joke Shop. James and Sirius each had a bag of goodies, which came as no surprise, as they both loved Zonko's.

"Hello there." Sirius waved energetically as Remus and Lily approached them. "We were just about to head on back. What do you think?"

"Sure." Lily shrugged. "I'm ready. But James… hadn't you better get through Honeydukes before it closes?"

"Oh geeze! You're right." James said, picking up his bags quickly. "See you guys at dinner."

"No! Don't leave me!" Sirius moaned after him. He sunk to the floor in fake sobs.

"Oh please." Belle groaned, pulling Sirius up by his elbow. "Let's get out of here, before you make a fool of yourself."

"I'd thought he already had." Madison smirked.

Lily laughed, and followed the others back to the Hogsmeade train station. The horseless buggies were sitting contently outside waiting for them.