"Thanks," said James, still in shock after seeing Lily lie for the sake of one of the marauders.
"Well, don't expect any more favors…" replied Lily, unsure herself why she had lied, but making an effort not to do it again.
James nodded slightly and walked into the Head's dormitory, followed by Lily. "We need to start planning the Halloween event, for the school," he added quietly to break the silence.
"Right," Lily agreed. "Here," Then, with a flick of her wrist, conjured a tall white board with markers that stretched out on the wall. With another small direction from her wand, the markers began to write 'Decorations, Music, Food, Location.' James looked at the board and sheepishly put away his parchment and quill he had taken out for the same purpose. "First we ought to decide on decorations,"
"Why?" said James, smiling slightly. "Shouldn't we do Music or Location first?"
"No, decorations first," said Lily firmly.
"Why?"
"Because, its in that order, and Decorations is number one on the board, so we do it first," said Lily.
"Ah, I see, Ok then decorations first…" said James lightly chuckling at Lily.
Ignoring James, Lily went on. "I think the basic stuff should be you know, floating pumpkins, black banners, jack-o-lanterns on the table, what do you think?"
"Yeah, that sounds ok, I guess, but we need something more exotic, fun, strange, more than just floating pumpkins," James finished, still trying to think.
"Well, can you think of anything else, better?" said Lily, also void of imagination.
"Not at the moment," said James.
"Ok, then lets move on to music, do you know anyone who can get a band?" said Lily.
"Yeah, I think I do, how do the Screaming Banshees sound?" asked James, timidly.
"Great! So now we only need food and location," replied Lily.
"Well, food should be easy, candy and pumpkin pies should do the trick…" said James, beginning to write them on the food list.
"You can't just have candy and pie, do you know how bad that stuff is for you?"
"Your right. We need Butterbeer, too," said James as a solution.
Lily sighed. "Well, of course we will need a sort of main course, but the house elves can easily manage steak or something… So that should take care of it…" Lily said, adding the words 'Steak, potatoes, bread, pumpkin juice, Yorkshire pudding, and carrots' to the list.
"Lily, um carrots? On Halloween? That wouldn't make it the fun holiday we all know it to be…"
"What's wrong with carrots?"
"Nothing, except, they're well, healthy." He emphasized the last word.
"What's wrong with healthy food?"
"Nothing, except its Halloween…"
"So?"
James let the matter drop. As repulsive as eating vegetables on Halloween was to him, he would rather not fight with Lily over something as stupid as carrots.
"Ok," continued Lily, brightly, clearly seeing she had won, "All we need is the location."
"Well, don't we have to have it in the Great Hall, anyway?" said James, confused.
"No, and wouldn't it be nicer to have it outside! Because I had an idea for the Christmas Ball to be outdoors, but of course it would be freezing, so we need to have that in the Great Hall, but it would add variety to have the Halloween Ball outdoors for a change."
"Well, ok, but outside isn't really that specific…Where outside?"
"Here," said Lily, unrolling a blank piece of parchment and tapping it with her wand, revealing a map of the Hogwarts grounds. "We could do it here, near the lake, but we have to stay away from the gardens…But I think it will work!"
"Wow. Well, yeah, that sounds really cool, I guess…So What are you going to be for Halloween, anyway?"
"Oh, I'll think of something…" said Lily, indifferent.
"What? Halloween is two weeks away! How are you going to find a costume?"
"I'll manage," said Lily, folding up her map and taking down the white board. "And Halloween is three weeks away, not two."
"Right, well see you tomorrow," said James, yawning.
"So you finished that foot and a half long essay Binns gave us thurs?"
"Binns? Essay? Huh?"
"Just a tip…If you want to keep up with the homework in that class you should stay awake…"
"But, I wasn't sleeping I was talking!" said James, indignantly.
"Well, same thing, point is, We have a foot and a half long essay due tomorrow about the Great Goblin Wars of 1036."
"Great," said James grimly. "Well," he said, pulling out a roll of parchment, better get started…"
"Full moon tonight," said Sirius, the next day in Transfusion.
"Of course," said James, who had forgotten.
"I suppose we all meet at the whomping willow?" said Remus, casually turning his pillow into a dove.
"Yeah, I suppose, we haven't really had a lot of experience in becoming animigi though, and we might not be ready…" said Peter, twitching his thumbs.
"We, or you? James and I have been able to do it successfully for quite some time now, you don't have to come yet it you don't want to," said Sirius, also turning his pillow into a innocent, grey dove.
"No, you guys have gone with out me before, and Im, Im rrready now!" said Peter, trembling.
"Ok, great see you at the whomping willow tonight then," said James.
"Don't be nervous, Peter, but you know what happens when a mistake is made in becoming an animigus…" said Sirius, flicking his wand, causing his dove to blow up in smithereens.
That night, James walked up to the Head's dormitory and grabbed his invisibility cloak. Throwing it over himself, he jogged out, meeting Sirius on the way.
"Where were you? I've been waiting for ages!" said Sirius, sounding annoyed.
"Ages, huh? You haven't been waiting for more than five minutes," said James, smiling slightly and letting Sirius under the cloak.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," whispered James, pointing his wand at the piece of parchment in Sirius's hands. Avoiding teachers of all kind, they hurried to meet Peter by the astronomy tower.
"Come on, we have to hurry," said James, looking outside at the darkening sky.
"Now, where is Remus?" said Sirius, looking around anxiously.
"Right behind you…" said Remus poking the invisible air where his three friends stood.
The four marauders flew down the stairs and outside, where they waited until the moon began to rise.
"Ready?" said Sirius, preparing to transform.
"Yeah," said James, folding up his cloak and hiding it in a crevice.
In one moment, the moon rose, and Remus began to transform. Sirius, seeing this, transformed quickly into a large black dog, and James, following his lead, turned into a glowing white stag. Peter, trembling, shrunk into a rat form, and running wildly, tried to push the knot. After two unsuccessful tries, He succeeded. James and Sirius led a wild Remus down the narrow passage way, Peter following soundlessly behind.