Sirius went off to gather up the rest of the crew—Remus, Beth, and Jessie, while James and Lilly went on up to the Gryffindor common rooms.

"It's so strange," Lilly whispered, "Usually when we walk down these halls, there's at least a ghost somewhere—but now—now it's silent as the grave. It's kind of creepy." She pulled James' arm tighter around her shoulder and leaned into him as they walked.

"Yeah, a little—but it's not too bad. It's nice having a little privacy for a change." He stopped and kissed her softly on the lips. "Are you sure you're okay? Malfoy and his goons didn't hurt you?" He ran his hands down her arms, cupped her face in his large, calloused hands, and touched his forehead to hers.

"I'm fine James; I'm just a little sore from being thrown on the ground." Lilly smiled at him and tugged his arm to make him start walking again. Soon they were in the Gryffindor common room, waiting for the rest of the crowd to come. James pulled Lilly over to the sofa in front of the fire and stretched out across it.

"You tired?" He whispered, kissing near her ear as she took off her shoes and curled up beside him.

"A little." She yawned and closed her eyes while James slipped his arm around her waist. James gazed into the crackling fire and thought about the fight.

"Lil?" He whispered. She rolled over and looked at him.

"Hmm?"

"Back in the courtyard—when did you learn how to do that? How?" He asked, sitting up and waiting for an answer. Lilly's face brightened as she came to a realization.

"So that's what's been bothering you, huh? I guess I should have told you. I wanted it to be a surprise. We were going to meet up with you one full moon and show you then." She said with relief. "After we found out about you and Sirius being Animagi, we decided that we would try it as well." James' eyes grew even rounder than they already were.
"We? All three of you can do it!?" He said in disbelief.

"Well, yes—let me see—Beth is a wolf, Jessie is a leopard, and I'm a fox." James broke into a huge grin.

"A vixen, huh?" He growled low in his throat and leaned over, kissing her neck. Lilly laughed, pushing him away playfully and sitting up just as Sirius, Remus, Beth, and Jessie walked in.

"Did you know all three of them are Animagi?!" James and Sirius said to each other at the same time. Jessie and Beth glanced at each other, then at Lilly.

"What's going on?" They said together. Remus walked calmly over to sit near the fire, pulling Beth along with him. Sirius did the same to Jessie as Beth cleared her throat.

"Um—Lilly, I thought we'd agreed we weren't going to tell them unless absolutely necessary." She said quietly. Lilly smiled at her reassuringly.

"It's okay Beth, James saw me transform. I didn't know he was there—I thought I was alone. Anyway, he knows about you two as well—I just told him." As she was speaking, she watched Beth relax. Beth turned to Remus very slowly.

"Are you angry?" She whispered.

"Why would I be angry?" Remus said with a light smile on his face.

"Because I didn't tell you about being an Animagus," She replied. Remus shook his head and pulled her gently down into his lap.

"I could never be angry with you—never." He kissed her softly and she leaned back against him, contented. Jessie grinned and looked over at Lilly. She rolled her eyes before squealing:

"Sirius came and told us all about the fight! Then we had to explain to him about you—we kind of thought you'd be angry—I'm glad you aren't though." She was hyper—bouncing off the walls hyper. James looked at his watch; it was only 8:30—three hours left until the end of the ball. He was sure nobody would miss them. He stood up and ran upstairs, rummaged in his trunk, changed into jeans and a sweatshirt, then came back downstairs. Beth was sitting in Remus' lap and reading a book with Remus reading it over her shoulder, and Jessie and Sirius were having a Quidditch conversation. James walked over to Sirius, tapped him on the shoulder and whispered:

"Padfoot, cover for me; about three hours should do it." Sirius nodded, but otherwise, nobody would have known that he'd just been spoken to. James walked over to the couch and touched Lilly's shoulder. "Go upstairs and change your clothes. Try to put on something warm this time." He winked and she ran upstairs to get changed. She was back ten minutes later. James grabbed her hand and pulled her outside. In one hand he had a piece of rolled up parchment—in the other was a cloak made of shimmering fabric. James smiled at her and whispered;

"My father's invisibility cloak—it's helped the Marauders through quite a few rough spots."

"So that's how you got by with all those tricks..." Lilly watched as he threw the cloak around them both. She gasped when she saw—or didn't see—her legs disappear. As the portrait hole closed behind them, Lilly followed James down a few hallways and watched as James consulted the piece of parchment every few minutes. Once or twice he stopped and pulled Lilly behind a piece of armor or close to a wall, he'd wait for a moment, and then they'd walk on.

"James, where are we--?"

"Shh!" He hissed. In a few minutes, they stood outside a statue of a witch with one eye. He tapped the witch's hump and whispered:

"Dissendium," The hump slid open, and he helped Lilly inside before climbing in himself and closing the hump behind them.