Disclaimer- As usual, nothing belongs to me. If it did, I'd send each of my reviews cash because they're bloody awesome.

So here's a big thank you, thank you, thank you to my reviewers!! All of you are great, honestly.

Cilverblood

Ilene

Sadz89

Californiagurl

kaleidoscope0-0eyes

Fallenflower

Lily Potter

A Fan

MaGicHappEnS

Slytherin Huntress

AndromedaTonks

x-lyddie-x

Seriously, to those of you who reviewed, it means a lot to me! For anyone who's ever written a story know that it takes a lot of courage to post a story strangers to read... it's hard to let everyone else read something that is so special to you. So thank you for your encouragement, it really does help. And any input as to what you want to happen in this story is welcomed and encouraged. Really, James and Lily's fate could be in your hands.

Well, here's the next chapter, as promised. A little bit of fluff, as usual. And of course, the big mystery, will Paul turn out to be as great as Meg thinks he is? I couldn't decide, you see, if I wanted to make him cool or not. I assure you, it was one of those decisions that haunted my dreams at night. I hope the way he turned out is satisfactory

Peace and happiness, With Love for You.

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"And love can come to everyone, the best things in life are free."

Lew Brown & Buddy de Sylva

"Good morning, good morning, good morning, it's time to rise and shine!"

Three deep tenor voices of three Marauders sang gleefully as they burst through the door to the head boy's room.

"Good morning, good morning, good morning, I hope you're feeling fine!"

Remus pulled the curtains in James' room wide open, letting the early sunlight stream into the room.

"The sun is up, you sleepy-head! The sun is up, get out of bed!"

James remained unmoving on his bed.

"Good morning, good morning, good morning it's time to RISE AND SHINE!"

Sirius yanked the covers off of James, who retaliated in return by chucking his pillow at him and muttering a few choice words. Sitting up slowly, he rubbed his head tiredly.

"What time is it?" he managed to mutter, reaching for his glasses off of his nightstand.

"About seven in the morning. Honestly mate, don't you remember what today is?" Peter asked, his eyebrows arching up his pudgy face and disappearing beneath a few sandy-brown wisps of hair.

"Er-..." James searched his mind for any hints about what made the day so special as to wake him up way too early for a Saturday.

Surprisingly, nothing came to him.

Peter dramatically sighed.

"It's Hogsmeade you daft twit. And I'm going with Jessica Theil!"

James sat up groggily.

"What ever happened to Lindsay? Weren't you two pretty serious?" James asked unconcernedly, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Peter and Sirius changed girlfriends like they changed socks.

"Yeah, well, turns out she thought I wasn't like she thought I would be. Stupid wench. Anyway, it all turned out good, Jessica asked me as soon as she heard I wasn't with Lindsay anymore."

"Is this the same Jessica that snogged Sirius senseless in the middle of dinner?"

"The one and only," Peter replied, his eyes taking a glazed and dreamy look.

"I thought so. For some reason I thought she was with Ernie, after that whole bathroom scandal and all..." Remus trailed off and shrugged with a smile.

"Right. Well, it's high time you get up Prongs my boy. Put something on," Sirius threw a white t-shirt at James, "and we'll meet you in the hall for breakfast."

The three boys left James with his thoughts, a white t-shirt, and a muggle alarm clock displaying the time 7:07 AM.

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"Look who finally decided to join us," Sirius noted as James entered the hall, sporting his t-shirt, an old pair of jeans, and wonderfully messy black hair.

James rolled his eyes slightly. They were the only ones present in the hall, save the professors. It was much too early to be up on a weekend, Hogsmeade or not.

"I'm here, but where is everyone else?" James said, taking a seat next to Sirius. "Sleeping are they?" he commented, reaching for a piece of toast. "Now why ever would anyone do that?"

"Don't know. Maybe someone should tell them that getting up this early opens many new possibilities. I now have the choice to have grape jam on my toast rather than just strawberry. By the time we usually get here, there's no grape left!"

"The audacity of it all shocks me, Padfoot. We'll have to speak to the house elves about their replenishing spells."

Remus rolled his eyes at James' comment.

"James, you know the real reason we got you up. We need to talk about, well, you know what." Remus said, keeping his voice down.

"Oh..." James' eyes got wider as he understood. "Right then. Well if we can't get the supplies we need in Hogsmeade today, we can always go back tomorrow night. I don't think Filch knows about the one-eyed witch yet, so that passage is safe."

"Pete and I have detention tomorrow night with McGonagall."

Sirius snapped his eyes up from where he had been staring at the strawberry jam distastefully.

"For what?" Sirius asked, casually sliding the strawberry jam out of his sight.

"We got caught by McGonagall just outside of the kitchens last night." Remus sighed. "We didn't have the cloak on fully yet, and she had already heard us so we ditched the cloak behind some statue. Don't worry James, we went back this morning before waking you up and collected it, and I assure you it's in mint condition lying in my trunk."

James let out the breath he had been holding and shot Remus a grin.

"At any rate, that's why we didn't show up last night." Peter said, setting down his fork. "And that's also why we have to get all of the supplies today. Dumbledore needs it right away, tomorrow at the latest. It has to sit for six months, so the sooner it's in his hands, the better."

"Meg and I can do it," James stated. "She trustworthy, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind sneaking into Knockturn Alley with me, especially if I tell her it's for Dumbledore."

"Wicked. Why don't you go get her up and get going? It'll take you all day to get all of the supplies and Christmas shopping done. Take her some breakfast while you're at it. Every girl loves breakfast in bed." Sirius said, handing James an empty plate and a piece of toast.

James poured her a glass of pumpkin juice, and grabbed the strawberry jam to spread on her toast before Sirius interrupted him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sirius said calmly, taking the knife and jam out of James' hands. "Grape, mate, grape."

James chuckled and spread grape jam instead, shaking his head before running off to Gryffindor Tower with a plate and goblet in hand. Pausing at the entrance to the stairs to the girl's dormitories, James managed to whip out his wand with a free hand. Counting up seven bricks from the bottom and over three to the right, much like the entrance to Diagon Alley, he tapped his wand on the chosen brick.

"I do promise, Godric Gryffindor, that I will treat her well and fair," he muttered before taking a step forward onto the stairs. It was by pure chance that the Marauders' found out the spell to allow boys into the girl's dorms, but it had proved to be useful.

Slowly entering the seventh years' room, he quietly padded to the first bed; silently hoping it was Meg's. There were only two seventh year girls that slept in the dormitory, as Lily usually used the head's room as of late. Therefore, he had a fifty-fifty chance as to which was Meg's. Slowly drawing back the curtains, he let out a sigh of relief as he saw Meg's pretty brown hair.

Lightly shaking her awake, James softly spoke her name, careful not to wake the other girl, Lisa Stephens, from her sleep too.

"James?" Meg said groggily, surprise to see him. "What-?" James shushed her, and motioned for her to follow him downstairs.

As they walked into the common room, James handed her the plate and goblet, and she plopped down on the couch.

"It was meant to be breakfast in bed, but, well, I tried my best." James said, smiling.

Meg's eyes joyfully got wide.

"Is that grape?" she squealed excitedly before inhaling the toast and jam.

James rolled his eyes, wondering why the world was so dead set against strawberry jam.

After patiently waiting for Meg to finish, James moved closer to her so as not to be overheard.

"Meg, I need a favor."

"Yeah okay. Anything goes after that wonderful breakfast in bed. Or sort of in bed...well whatever. What's the favor?"

James leaned closer.

"I need to go to Knocturn Alley today."

Meg's eyes got wide.

"The Knocturn Alley? Whatever for?"

James' eyes roamed the room, checking to make sure there were no uninvited visitors.

"The guys and I are making veritaserum. Don't freak or anything," he said quickly, noticing the expression on her face. "It's for Dumbledore."

"James, isn't that-"

"Impossible?" James said, cutting her off with a coy grin.

"Well that, and illegal!"

"It's not really the first time we've done something illegal. But I do understand if you don't want to be a part of it. I just thought I'd ask." James said, getting up to leave.

"No, no, you sit back down. I never said I wouldn't do it. It just, won't be easy. I mean, come on. What kind of girl could turn down the opportunity to sneak into Knocturn Alley and do something highly illegal, and impossible, with James Potter?"

"So you're in then?" James asked, excited.

"I'm in."

James couldn't help but have a wide grin spread across his face, as he childishly pumped one fist into the air.

"You are one bloody amazing girl."

"Yes, well, that's what I'm told," Meg said in a posh voice, her noise in the air.

James laughed at her and told her to hurry up and get ready. She waved and disappeared into the girl's dorms, wondering what exactly she had just gotten herself into.

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Walking into a slightly more crowded Great Hall, Meg met up with the Marauders and Lily, who had also joined the boys.

"Good morning, all. Isn't it a beautiful day today?" Meg greeted them all in a sing-song voice with a large grin on her face.

"Quite," Remus said dryly. The boys had been waiting in the hall for more than an hour for all of their friends to meet up with them. Meg, it seemed, hadn't been too quick in dressing for Hogsmeade.

"Well," Meg said in her cheery voice. "I think it's time we leave, James. We have a busy day ahead of us, you know. Lots and lots of shopping, and not enough time!"

Meg grabbed Sirius' goblet and downed all of its contents, much to the surprise of her friends.

"Awful chipper this morning, aren't we Meg?"

Sirius' sounded utterly bored.

"Just a simple cheering charm is all, Sirius. That and grape jam." Meg replied, a grin never leaving her face, but her eyes connected with James as if trying to send him a message.

"A dangerous combination." James observed, shaking his head. "Well, we're off. Maybe we'll run into you sometime today, or maybe not." He got up and stretched his arms. "Lils, have fun on your date. Don't worry too much, okay? Paul's a good guy." He gave her a little kiss on the top of her head before waving goodbye to the Marauders and taking Meg's hand in his.

"I need to stop and chat with Dumbledore first, okay? And what's with that grin? It's starting to creep me out." James muttered, the two of them walking towards Dumbledore at the head table.

"I told you, cheering charm. Only I didn't cast the charm." Meg said, and James could tell she was trying to fight the smile off of her face.

"Hold on, we'll talk about this in a second." They had reached Dumbledore, and they put their conversation on hold.

"Professor," James said respectfully. "Meg and I will be picking up those supplies you wanted for tomorrow. However, I'm afraid that we-" James faltered, casting a glance at the nearby teachers. "We won't be able to find them in Hogsmeade. Therefore, if we happen to not come back tonight, you know, die of an extreme candy sugar-high, or get beat up by an old hag," he looked meaningfully at Dumbledore, who's eyes merely twinkled at James. "Don't bother looking for us too hard in Hogsmeade. I'd spend that valuable search time...elsewhere."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter, Ms. Simons. I assure you that if the Honeydukes candy or perhaps something else does manage to take your life, which I highly doubt, we will search accordingly. But I do warn you, take extreme caution. And do pick me out a candy, won't you?"

Meg was still grinning. "Of course professor. Good day!"

They quickly left the castle, and made their way to Hogsmeade. They were earlier than all of the other students, but they had to get to the Honeydukes to use the fireplace. Knockturn Alley was by Diagon Alley, and Hogwarts fireplaces wouldn't allow floo powder travel.

"If you didn't cast the charm, who did?" James asked, the two of them walking briskly along the path to the small town.

"A Slytherin. James, just take the charm off and I'll explain!" The smile on Meg's face was obviously forced, but her voice was still high and cheery.

"Right." With a flick of his wrist and a fair bit on concentration, the charm was lifted. "Explain." James said simply.

The smile on Meg's face turned into a deep frown. Lines of anger formed around her cloudy eyes.

"Slytherins. Damn them. Hold up, James. Can we stop for a minute? I think there might be some after affects of the charm. Nasty buggers. They must have mixed in some dark magic, my leg is killing me."

Meg plopped down on the dirt path, and James awkwardly stood next to her as she pulled her robes up to reveal boils on the lower part of her leg.

James winced.

"Ouch," he said, and kneeled down next to her.

"Tell me about it," Meg replied, and gingerly touched the tip of her wand to the boils. Muttering a few words, the boils slowly disappeared, but the skin stayed red and irritated.

"Gods, this is going to hurt all day. How did they manage to do that?"

"I don't know. Knowing them it was probably some dark spell their great master taught them. Come here," James carefully transfigured a nearby leaf into gauze wrapping.

"I didn't know you were so good at transfiguration." Meg remarked as James carefully wrapped her slightly swollen ankle in the gauze.

"Yeah, well, don't tell McGonagall. It'll ruin my reputation. There you go. Are you sure you want to walk on it?"

Meg slightly rolled her eyes.

"Of course. If I didn't, I'd be missing a perfectly good opportunity to sneak into one of the darkest places ever."

"Alright then," James let out a smile at her determination. "Just tell me if it bugs you, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, James. Honestly, I don't know why Lily and I avoided you for so long. You're really not that bad."

James let out a laugh, and held out his hand to help her up.

"I'm glad you approve."

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Lily was frantically skirting around her room, looking in the mirror here and playing with her hair there. It was around noon, and Paul was arriving at the entrance to the head's rooms any minute. Hearing a knock on the entrance to the head's common room, she froze. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and smiled as to what was waiting for her.

A handsome young man and a bouquet of roses.

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A/N- That's it for now!! I promise next chapter will have the whole date, and it's already half written, so never fear it will be up sooner! Do review, please. Suggestions, as always, are welcomed.