A/N: Hey y'all. I added review responses to the last part, and I'm doing them for this part right now. Thanks to everyone, and enjoy (as always, please review. The anonymous reviews are enabled)!

iWILLmarryDaniel Radcliffe: You are correct...

MickeyG51591: The James/Lily romance in this story is pretty eventual. We are told in the books that they did't actually go out until 7th year, so I'm trying to stay in that boundary.

Part Ten: A Revelation

Lily and James split up at the entrance hall. She went into the Great Hall for dinner; he made the long journey to Gryffindor tower so he could gather everything they'd need for the night. James climbed through the portrait hole and found all three of the other Marauders there, apparently awaiting his arrival.

"Nice of you to drop by, Prongs," said Sirius.

"Hey, guys. How'd the mission go?"

"It didn't. We had forgotten that nearly everyone would be in Hogsmeade today, but we remembered at the last minute and cancelled," Sirius frowned. "A great mission gone down the drain.

"Anyway, we were just about to leave for the full moon."

"Oh!" said James. He couldn't believe it had slipped his mind. "Oh no, I can't tonight. Damn, it never crossed my mind…"

"Why can't you?" asked Sirius angrily, folding his arms. "Is it another meeting with your dear Lily?"

"As a matter of fact, we have to pick some fluxweed tonight for our potion."

"Oh, I'll pick your—"

"Enough, both of you!" Remus ordered as the permanent mediator between the two. His patience was receding quickly, and it wasn't a good time for that to happen.

Sirius and James looked ashamed, while a scared Peter curled into a ball on his armchair. "Sirius, you must understand that James is doing schoolwork," Remus continued. "And James, we know you're crazy for Lily, but that doesn't mean you have to be as crazy as she is when it comes to assignments. But I guess it's really not your fault. It's not like we'd know. I for one have never been in love.

"Sorry, Moony," they mumbled simultaneously. James added, "I regret to tell you I have to work tonight. There's no way around it…you know how fluxweed can be."

The Marauders nodded in agreement.

"And I'll need to take my cloak and the map…and…she might ask questions."

"She's Evans; she will," Sirius reminded him.

"Right. So, I'm going to have to answer them."

"Oh…" Comprehension dawned on their faces.

"Well…that's okay, isn't it?" said Peter. None of the Marauders had ever thought the day would come when they would be obligated to share their secret.

"Yes," Remus said after a minute, having received glances of consent from everyone else.

James smiled. "Have fun tonight, guys."

"We'll try James, but without Prongs, we won't know what to do."

The others exited the common room, and James went upstairs to collect his necessities for the assignment.

James nicked himself some food from the kitchens and went in search of Lily. He easily found her in the entrance hall, tapping her foot impatiently.

"It took you long enough!"

"Would you believe I had a run-in with a bunch of ghosts gathered for the Fat Friar's eight-hundredth death day party, and they wanted me to season their feast for them?"

"Don't get smart with me right now. We've got a possible crisis on our hands."

"Okay," said James reluctantly. He felt he was on a roll for jokes at the moment, but he knew the night was young, and the sooner they accomplished the task, the better. He opened the castle door for Lily, and they ventured outside. Once in the new-fallen darkness, James lit his wand. Lily followed suit, curious as to what James' plan was.

He pulled a blank piece of parchment from his jeans pocket. Lily found humor in this. "What good is a spare sheet of parchment—"

James signaled for her to stop talking and tapped his and his friends' recent invention with his wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he recited.

Lily gasped softly as ink spread from where James' wand had touched the parchment, and formed words. She read:

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers

are proud to present

The Marauder's Map

James unrolled the map to show the Hogwarts grounds. Two dots close together on the map signified their whereabouts near the west side of the castle.

"No, we're way too far from the fluxweed patch," he muttered. Lily did not hear him. She was still watching the dots on the map move around the school in amazement.

"C'mon, Lily," he said, rolling up the map up again. "I've got a faster way to get there."

Lily followed him, finally realizing something. She fell into step beside him. "James, who are Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?"

He closed his eyes. Had had been expecting this; Lily was intelligent, probably the brightest witch of the age. He sighed loudly. "They're the Marauders, also known as Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter."

Lily froze in shock. "You…made this?"

"Remus was the real brains behind it, but I transfigured the parchment to spew nasty insults at anyone who tried to read it without the password."

"James, that's—it's—brilliant."

"Thank you. One tries."

"Where are we going, anyway?"

"Broom shed," replied James, coming upon it, opening it, walking inside, and rummaging around for something.

"What are you looking for?" Lily asked, peering inside.

"Here it is!" James yelled, happy he finally found it.

James emerged from the shed with a broomstick in hand.

Lily took one side-ways glance at it and said, "Oh no, I'm not getting on that thing."

"The Nimbus 1970 is the safest broom on the market, equipped with anti-lock acceleration and a comfortable seat-cushioning charm. Plus, it's virtually indestructible."

"Nope. Still not riding it."

"Yes, you are."

"So not."

"Sorry about this, Lily," he said, quickly slinging their bag of supplies over himself, grabbing her hand, and kicking off from the ground, into the fresh night air.