Disclaimer: I own nothing! Nothing!

Author's Note: It's been awhile, I know. But I had a water polo game everyday for 6 days last week, I've been feeling sick, this is my last week before finals, and next week is finals. Eek. Talk about pressure. I haven't had any time to write. But I was home sick today, so I thought I'd finish the chapter. It's nice and long. 3000 words. Enjoy! And, I've got more than 500 reviews on this story! Party!

Replies:

Certified-weirdo—Thanks. I was trying to come up with the most bizarre thing I could think of. Almost put here in a penguin suit instead.

Glaz—Thanks so much!

Cool grl—Thanks. Sorry it's taken so long.

Wicked1—Here it is!

LilyEvans4life—Thanks!

Frankie Beeblebrox—Thanks, Frankie!

Faerie-kittie306 animelover—Thanks.

Gwendolyn James—Hehe. I can so see the pink tutu clashing with her hair.

Lizziee—I just called it an act. It's still just one song. But they'll be singing and dancing in costume. Does that count? Nope. No ballet for Lily. Thanks.

Lil Bazza—Thanks. I'm trying to keep this alive and not make it too much like general switching places fics out there.

J.E.A.R.K.Potter—Thanks! The dream was so fun. Originally it was going to be a chapter about just James having a bizarre dream, but I couldn't think of a way to make it long enough like that.

Elladora D. Jobberknoll—Hehe. My cousin was obsessed with friends for a while. "They don't know what we know that they know we know they know!" Hehe. They were talking about Monica and Chandler's relationship right. Is that Monica talking, or Rachel? I haven't seen that episode in ages.

Luv-nave—Thanks! She might not have time to be worried sick. :::evil grin:::

Annmarie Aspasia—Thanks. I can't wait to write it. I've got so many ideas forming about it.

DOJ—I almost made Sirius figure it out instead, but Remus was closer to them in that he knew them both; Sirius doesn't know Lily that well so it's a little less plausible for him to recognize it first. But he might still surprise you.

Jeanne2—Thanks! I love making people laugh. Sorry it's been so long since I updated. As far as the glasses and the Harry's eyes thing, I know what it said in the book. I put a warning up early on in this story that I changed it for story purposes. I like the idea of Lily wearing glasses.

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Chapter 21: Afternoon on the Town

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"What am I supposed to do with a whole afternoon off?" she asked.

Remus grinned at her. "There's a whole mess of things you can do, Lillers. You can go upstairs and look through all of James's things, you can—"

"That's an invasion privacy. I'm not going to look through everything in his trunk. I wouldn't want him to do that."

"How do you know he hasn't already?"

"Has he?"

"Not that I know of."

She felt ready to smack him. "What else is there to do?"

"We could go meander out by the lake."

"Not in the mood."

"You could catch up on some reading. For fun I mean."

"I'm already done with everything I brought from home."

"Hmm." Remus gave it a moment's thought, then sprang up as though struck by brilliance. "I've got it. I'll be right back." Remus went up to his dormitory and searched for the Marauder's Map. "Got it," he muttered, coming back down.

"What's that?"

"It's that Map I showed you."

"The one that says where everyone is?"

"The one and only."

"But that's a blank piece of parchment."

"James, Sirius, and Peter would kill me if they found out I told you how to work this. It only looks like a blank piece of parchment. We don't want just anyone using it, after all."

"Would you mind explaining things a bit more clearly?" she asked, irately, standing up to go look at the parchment.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," Remus said, placing the tip of his wand on the parchment.

Lily watched in awe as lines spread out to create the map she had seen. Words appeared at the top with the names of the creators. "Are you telling me," she asked slowly, "That the four of you made this?"

Remus nodded in delight.

"I didn't think the other three were capable of something that required such cranial capacity."

"That's not nice, Lily."

"Just speaking what's on my mind."

"They are a lot brighter than you give them credit for."

"So how exactly is having a map that says where everyone is going to help me fill my afternoon?"

"Study the map for a minute."

She carefully inspected it. "I don't recognize all of these cooridors," she said finally.

"That is because this map is the result of painstaking research. It includes 7 secret exits out of Hogwarts."

"And where do they lead?"

"To Hogsmeade."

Lily's eyes widened in surprise a moment at hearing that the four of them had actually managed to create something like this. Then she said, "Well, I suppose it figures that that's where you'd all want to go."

"This is the closest one to the common room. It's two floors down and but on the other end of the castle, near Ravenclaw tower," Remus said absently as he rolled the parchment up.

"How do you know where Ravenclaw tower is?"

"It's all on the map," Remus grinned.

"But if the four of you made the map, then you obviously found the tower at some point," she pointed out.

"That's a story for another time," he said, choosing his words carefully.

Lily decided to drop the matter for the moment. She'd get the whole story sooner or later. "Should I get James's invisibility cloak?"

"Ah, you know about the cloak."

"Yes, I found it in James's trunk."

"Do you want to get going?"

"I suppose we should, if we're going…"

"It'll be good for you. You're supposed to be James Potter. James Potter wouldn't flinch at a little trip to Hogsmeade. Besides, Sirius'll want a good reason for us missing Potions."

"Let's just go before I talk myself out of it."

"Great. I'll go get the cloak and be right back." Remus ran upstairs and grabbed the cloak, looking around to see if there was anything else they'd need. Nothing. With the cloak, they didn't even really need the map. He hurried back downstairs to Lily. Just maybe, Lily was starting to understand his friends. A week ago, Lily would never even consider missing class and sneaking out to Hogsmeade. It was a good thing this was last class of the day.

"Ready?" she asked, nervous.

"Ready as anything." He swung the cloak around their shoulders so that they both stood under it and pulled the hood up. He opened the map again. It was clear all the way to the stairs leading to the next floor. The caretaker was just passing the lower landing of the stairs. "Let's go."

Together, they left the common room and proceeded as far as the stairs. Remus warned her, "The caretaker is around the bottom, searching for troublemakers and class skippers."

Lily whispered furiously, "I can't believe I'm doing this, Re. I never would have thought you would be the one to convince me to do something this outrageous. Skipping class and going to Hogsmeade!"

"What?" he whispered back. "If it were Sirius or James's idea you wouldn't be here at all."

Lily kept her mouth shut, knowing it was true.

"Step softly," he breathed. And they started to walk down the stairs. They got to the bottom and saw the caretaker lurking around. They walked as quietly as they could. Lily saw the caretaker turn his head in their direction before seeing nothing and stalking off.

She gave a sigh of relief.

They continued on their way as quickly as they could (under the circumstances that was obviously not very quick). They found the next set of stairs to go down and Remus whispered, "We're almost there."

After that it was three left turns and there they were, standing in front of a large, floor-to-ceiling tapestry of a cat and dog dancing.

Lily almost burst out laughing, but Remus covered her mouth with his hand and shushed her. Carefully, Remus picked up a corner of the tapestry and they slipped inside. The space inside was just a two foot deep by three foot tall niche about six feet high.

"What are we doing here?" she asked.

"This is it," he said with certainty.

"This is what? This is a little hole in the wall. It doesn't look like it goes anywhere."

"Here, take the cloak." Remus slipped out of it and got on his hands and knees, searching. "Ah, here it is." His fingers found the groove in one of the blocks of stone at the base of the wall and pulled it out. He also pulled out the one next to it too. The flagstone on the floor beneath that one came up as well. "Tada," he said, revealing the dark whole in the ground.

"Are you sure it's safe?" she asked, cautiously. The stones at the base of the wall seemed pretty big to just leave them out. Wouldn't the wall cave in?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Look, there are rungs built into the side of this shaft. All you have to do is climb down them."

She still looked uncertain.

"I'll go first, and I'll light my wand and stick it in my belt so you can see."

"I'll light mine and put it behind my ear. That way, it'll be eye-level."

"Whatever makes you feel comfortable. Let's go. Lumos!" He lowered himself into the hole and started climbed down. The rungs were secure, but for some reason, the stones above looked unstable, almost like they were shaking a little. It was probably just his imagination. "Come on, Lillers. When have I ever led you wrong?"

Lily took a deep breath, lit her wand, and stuck it behind her ear. She lowered herself into the hole. Was it just her, or were those stones shaking like the entrance was unstable or something? "Remus?" She pointed up.

"They always rattle a little. But I promise, you'll be okay. The rungs are secure. Just keep climbing down."

They kept climbing down and the shaft widened a little, but not much. They'd gone about fifteen yards when they heard the rocks starting to fall. "Remus?"

"From the sounds of it, the entrance is caved in," he said grimly.

"Does that mean—?"

"No. We aren't trapped in here. But now there's no turning back about going to Hogsmeade. We have to go and catch one of the other entrances back to school."

Lily stood there, hanging on for dear life and breathing deeply a moment to get herself back under control before climbing again.

It seemed ages before they reached the bottom. It was forty yards of straight climbing, then Remus called, "I'm at the bottom. You'll be on firm ground in a minute." He backed up into a tunnel that branched off the shaft. He had to hunch a little because it wasn't quite high enough.

Lily braved the last few rungs and came down. "I'm almost glad it caved in up there. I don't think I could take another climb like that."

"We'd better get going," Remus said. He couldn't believe it. Now, one of their secret entrances was unusable. If the Founders were going to bother building secret exits in the first place, they should have built them to last more than just a millennium. "Don't straightened up all the way yet, or you'll hit your head."

Lily and Remus started walking down the tunnel, which was at a slightly downhill slant. Eventually, the ceiling got higher so they could walk upright and the path widened enough so that they could walk side by side.

"You four didn't build these tunnels, right?" Lily asked curiously.

"No. We only found them."

"What do you think they were built for then? Who built them?"

"Mostly, we think, the Founders. We don't know why. Maybe as an emergency escape route."

The tunnel started to slant up instead of down and they were quiet for a few minutes.

"Where do you go every month, Re?"

Remus was startled. "What do you mean? You know about my condition."

"But you don't go to the hospital wing. I've been there. You aren't there. You be somewhere nearby if Sirius and James and Peter keep you company."

Remus's face turned to stone. He didn't want to discuss this. Why had she brought it up?

"I've wanted to ask for a while, Re."

"Let's just say, not all haunted houses are haunted by ghosts and poltergeists."

They went the rest of the way in silence until they came to stairs leading up.

"Where do they go?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"You know that bakery that Elmer Zonko just bought and turned into a jokeshop?"

"Yeah."

"This leads to the back storage room." He ascended the steps and cautiously opened the trapdoor. No one was there. He opened it the rest of the way and stuck out a hand to help her up.

She looked around and found herself surrounded by crates with labels like "Experimental Dungbombs: do not handle without access to a Cantrifross potion" and "Hair-eating hats: handle with caution".

"Where's the cloak?" Remus asked, shutting the trapdoor and covering it up again.

"I thought you had it."

"I thought you had it. It must have been left near the collapsed entrance. We'll have to go back and get it later. This'll make it harder to get to the next entrance without being seen. And harder to get out of here." He stuck his ear to the wall.

"There aren't many customer's out there. How are we going to get through?" he muttered.

Lily spotted a glove lying on the ground and put it on. She went over to the box of experimental Dungbombs and lifted one out carefully. "Re?"

"Yeah?" he said, not looking at her.

"Do Dungbombs make smoke?"

"The ones that Sirius and James took from here and tested did. Smelled awful."

"When I say go, run. Run fast. I think we can get out of here."

"What are you…?" He saw the Dungbomb in her hand. "No, Li—"

It was too late; Lily threw the Dungbomb and crashed it against the floor.

When Elmer came to see the disturbance, Lily and Remus snuck out under the cover of the smoke and left the store.

Lily started laughing until she realized just how bad Remus smelled standing next to her. "Disgusting," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"You're no spring flower yourself," retorted Remus, coughing.

She charmed them to be fresh-smelling again. "Thirsty?"

"Parched. Let's get something to drink."

"Where? Won't people notice that we're a little young to be out today? The shopkeepers usually know when Hogwarts lets students leave to come shop."

"We'll go to the Three Broomsticks. Rosmerta won't say anything. Sirius and James go all the time."

That decided, they walked to the Three Broomsticks as though they had every right to be there. Lily found a table while Remus went to Rosmerta for Butterbeers.

"Hello, Remus," she greeted. "What can I do you for?"

"Two Butterbeers, please."

She spotted "James" sitting at a table in a corner. "Let me guess, the Head Boy has earned himself a Free Day in Hogsmeade Pass?" she asked, rolling her eyes. The number of times James and Sirius came in here was simply ridiculous. But, they were nice boys and paying customers. No matter what disturbances they caused elsewhere in town or at school, they were angels at her establishment. She was a little surprised to see Remus; he came less often. At first James made excuses when he came on days without the rest of Hogwarts; now he usually didn't even bother to try.

"James Potter and Lily Evans joined the Glee Club. The Headmaster let James out today to start looking for costumes for their performance on Monday."

"Oh really? What sort of costume?"

"I don't know yet. We just got here and James doesn't know what he's looking for. He says he'll know it when he finds it."

"Best of luck to him then." She handed him the Butterbeers and he paid for them.

Remus took the bottles back to the table where Lily was. "Here you go."

They sipped their Butterbeers and talked quietly for a while.

Eventually, Lily said, almost regretfully, "I suppose it's time we get going."

"Yes, we've got to go costume shopping."

Lily looked at him oddly, but went along with it. "Right. I've got to have something to wear."

They left and Remus said, "I told Rosmerta you were here picking out a costume for Glee Club. I can't wait to see the look on James's face the next time he comes in here and she asks him about it."

"You're good. I never knew you were so…devious."

He grinned at her.

"Now, how do we get back to school."

"Honeydukes."

"Lead on."

Together, they went to Honeydukes. It was a little more crowded. Lily picked out a bar of chocolate for Remus (she knew it was his favorite), and some licorice for herself. She was about to go to the counter when Remus stopped her.

"We can't go and not bring back a peace offering."

"Peace offering?"

"Sirius was covering for us in Potions. We have to bring him and Peter back something."

"And James too, I suppose?"

"Of course."

They picked out Fizzing Whizbees for Sirius, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans for Peter, and Chocolate Frogs for James. After paying, they snuck into the cellar while the owner was distracted with another customer.

Conscientious of time, they hurried through the tunnel there and back to Hogwarts as quickly as they could. When they finally got to Hogwarts, Remus opened his map. "Good. No one is around. Stuff the candy in your pocket and leave the bag here. We don't want anybody to see it." They divvied up the candy so neither one would have bulging pockets and left the bags in the tunnel. With another quick look at the map, Remus pushed on part of the ceiling and climbed out. He turned back to help Lily out.

They were standing next to the statue of a witch with a hump on her back. Remus closed the hump.

"Sirius is waiting for us in the common room."

"And James?"

"James is…" Remus studied the map. "In the kitchens. Probably eating."

When they reached Gryffindor Tower, Sirius pulled them aside and demanded to know the all-important question of, "What did you bring me?"

Remus pulled out Sirius's candy and Sirius began to devour it.

"Now, more importantly, why did you take me with you?"

"We left at lunch and never made it back. We figured once we were already late for potions, why bother going at all?" Remus said.

"And how did you get Evans to lie for you with that nurse's note?"

"She didn't know she was lying," Lily said.

"We said we were feeling sick and going back to the nurse, but had just dropped our bags off at the Tower."

"And she fell for that?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"She hasn't been herself lately," Lily said defensively.

Remus muttered, "That's the understatement of the year."

Lily smacked him on the back of the head.

"Ow!" Remus said, glaring at her.

"He's right, Prongs. She's been acting really strange. All that makeup business early this week, coming late to class today, getting detention; it's not like her at all. Something funny is going on."

"What do you think it could be?" asked Remus.

Lily saw Peter coming and went to give him his Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out. She isn't the only one acting odd," Sirius gave a pointed glance at "James".

Lily talked with Peter a few moments, and then announced she was going to get a snack from the kitchens. On her way by, she whispered to Remus to let Sirius and Peter know about the tunnel collapse and said she'd get the cloak back.

Lily could hear Sirius's outrage about the tunnel as she left the common room quickly.