Disclaimer: Characters and settings are property of J.K. Rowling. What you don't recognize is mine. And I wish I owned the Marauders (specifically Sirius and Remus) but most unfortunately, I do not. L

X-X-X-X-X

Lily watched, with some amusement, as Janine and Jeffrey played pocket billiards. This, at least, the pair of them were good at, although Damien, who was now playing darts on his own, insisted that he was better than both of them.

To this pronouncement, Jeffrey had threatened to beat him about the head with the billet if he didn't shut up.

Nonetheless, magical billiards was much more interesting that ordinary billiards. Because the balls actually talked to the player, chattering and (occasionally) insulting. And at that precise moment, the 9-ball took the time to shout, "Oy! Watch where yer pokin' that stick, lassie!" Janine glowered and hit it into one of the pockets. Smirking, Janine set herself up for the next shot.

Lily giggled, trying to rid herself of the mentally amusing image of a billiards ball talking, and Janine shot her an irritated look. "Do you mind? I'm trying to concentrate!"

Damien rolled his eyes. "Oy, Lily, you want a butterbeer?" He held up his own bottle; he was standing by a mini-bar.

"Yes, please." Lily glanced at Janine, ignoring the fact that her friend was "concentrating." "What d'you suppose your dad wants to talk to you about?"

Janine understood the underlying question. "It's probably nothing too important," said Janine with a smile. "He won't mind you being there."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, he-"

"They're coming." Startled, everyone turned to Perry, who, up until then, had been reading A History of Magic (which, incidentally, was a book on a subject that was generally loathed by the majority of the Garnet family).

"Who's coming, Per?" asked Damien uneasily, exchanging looks with Janine and Jeffrey.

"The shadowed ones. They're coming. There will be pain." His eyes were unfocused; he was staring out the window.

Janine laughed suddenly; it was strained. That seemed to snap Perry out of his trance enough to stare at his sister. "Perry sometimes makes weird comments," she explained. "Just… just ignore it."

"Janine, I really do mean it this time," insisted Perry. "They're coming."

"Here?" she asked.

"No. Not here."

"Then we've got nothing to worry about. Go back to your book, Perry, I've got to beat the trousers off Jeffrey…"

Lily frowned, watching as Perry buried his nose in his book again. Moments later, he glanced up again, his blue eyes piercing. "They're coming," he mouthed again, and proceeded to continue reading. Lily frowned again, tugging on one of her curls absently.

X-X-X-X-X

"Avada Kedavra!" Fortunately, the green whizzed by their heads and smashed into a wall behind them, scattering debris. James dazedly tried to find their attacker once more, through the smoke and wreckage that had appeared when Flourish and Blotts had exploded.

The first to react was Alyssa. She immediately pulled out her wand, pointing it at the approaching robed figure, and shouted, "Stupefy!" Although the Death Eater had dodged her spell, it had given the three teens ample time to leap to their feet and Sirius and James to pull out their wands, backing slowly away.

"Avada Kedavra!" Sirius slammed into Alyssa, knocking her to the ground and covering her body with his and more debris and rock showered down around them. "We've got to get out of here!"

"How?" she gasped, trying to wriggle out from underneath him. She aimed her wand at the Death Eater again, under Sirius's arm. "Flagrate!" At once, fire shot forth from her wand, alighting on the Death Eater's robe. With a yell of rage, he stamped on it, trying to put it out.

James grabbed Sirius and Alyssa, hauling them both to their feet, just as they broke into a frenzied run. The first shop that wasn't barred by screaming people was the one he ran into, dragging them with him. Quickly, he crouched behind a counter. "Stay quiet," he breathed. The store must have emptied out moments before, for it was eerily silent.

Until the door was blasted off the hinges. James gripped his wand. I can't let her do all the work. He waited for a Death Eater to peer cautiously over the counter, and shouted, "Deletrius!"

James was in such a panic that his spell hardly worked, but it was good enough. The Death Eater reeled back from the disintegration spell, howling. Sirius took his chances and jumped up, bellowing, "Reducto!" A scream echoed from not far. "Quick – there'll be more!"

They bolted for the door, barely making it out, taking in the scene quickly – the situation had worsened, already dead bodies and injured people littered the streets – and then-

A hand gripped James's shoulder. He whirled, terrified, ready to hex whoever it was, and saw his father's face. "The Leaky Cauldron, quickly!" he hissed, as an Auror shot a spell at the Death Eater, engaging him in a duel. "This isn't your place to be."

"But-"

"Go now!"

James didn't hesitate. Nodding swiftly to his friends, he broke into a run for the arch that was the entrance to Diagon Alley. He glanced back once, to see his father fending off two Death Eaters. Again, Alyssa came to the rescue, shouting, "Petrificus Totalus!" One Death Eater fell.

Mr. Potter sent them a swift, strained smile, before leaping to finish off the second Death Eater. The teens ran again.

Reaching the Leaky Cauldron, James haphazardly grabbed a fistful of Floo Powder, shoved his friends into the fireplace, squished in as well, and shouted, "Potter Estate!"

And they were gone.

X-X-X-X-X

"Drink this, dear," Mrs. Potter said very gently, holding a mug of hot tea to Alyssa's lips. "I imagine this has been terrifying for you."

"She was great – probably saved our lives with that stunning spell, and Dad's with the petrification spell," said James, giving her a shaky smile. "I hope everyone's okay."

Mrs. Potter gave him a tired look. "I hate to be a pessimist, but I'm sure there were casualties. They're going to need help at St. Mungo's…" She stood. "Take care of your friend." She left.

Sirius gripped Alyssa's shoulder gently. "Hey, at least we're safe. And so's your mum."

"I have an aunt at Diagon Alley…"

Sirius and James exchanged looks, just as Mrs. Potter bustled in. "I don't want you staying at the Estate alone." She handed Sirius a violently purple bag. "Floo Powder. Take it to Garnet Manor, or the Comforts Estate – wherever you want. But don't stay here, just in case. I want you where there are adults."

"Yes, Mum," said James dutifully. She nodded and quickly apparated. He glanced at Sirius, and they both nodded at Alyssa, who was watching them with a question in her eyes. "C'mon," muttered James. "Let's go find out where the others are."

X-X-X-X-X

The last thing Lily had been expecting was for James Potter to stumble from Janine's fireplace in what had been dubbed the 'Games Room,' sweaty and soot-streaked. Damien was the first there, to catch him. "What the-?"

"Death Eaters. Attack on Diagon Alley," he gasped, and was abruptly shoved out of the way as Alyssa flew out of the fireplace, followed by Sirius, who landed on top of her. "We barely got out in time," he explained. "Mum sent us over here while she went to St. Mungo's."

"Potter?" Everyone turned to Lily, whose look was thoughtful. "What do Death Eaters look like?"

"Long robes," said Sirius at once, gesturing with his arms. "Usually really tall, s'far as we can tell."

"They wear masks, so you can't see their faces," added James. "And the hoods shadow their faces, usually. And-"

Lily whirled to stare at Perry, but Janine cleared her throat loudly. Everyone stared at her. "Two o'clock!" she announced in a shrill voice. "Time for tea!"

But the moment she'd finished, Meg Garnet walked in. "Oh, there you are," she began, clearing her throat. "Tea's off, your father had to – oh, hello, James." She smiled warmly at the boys. "And Alyssa, too. And… Sirius Black?" Her eyes twinkled. "Fancy that. Never thought I'd see you around here." She smirked in her daughter's direction – to Lily's confusion, Janine was turning a violent shade of magenta. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Have you?" Sirius glanced quizzically at Janine. "What's she said?"

"Not much," said Perry cheerfully from the corner. "Mostly lots of complaining, about what a prat you are and all the stupid fights the pair of you have gotten into." He grinned. "Judging by the sounds of it, you bicker like an old married couple. Don't throw that at me!" he added quickly, whirling to face his sister. Janine's hand was inches away from a pillow on the couch.

Lily wanted to laugh, but her throat felt very dry, remembering that something very serious had just happened. "Mrs. Garnet, what's going on at Diagon Alley?" she questioned.

Janine's mother became grave quickly. "Well, it's over now," she said softly at last. "So far, the death toll is thirteen."

"Thirteen!?"

"Yes." Mrs. Garnet looked out the window – the snow was falling heavier now, much thicker. "No Death Eater casualties." She turned to her children and their friends. "I want you all to be very careful, with what you do, what you say, and whom you say it to. Our Masquerade will go on despite this – but it would be a prime time for Tom to attack with his Death Eaters." She left the room.

Lily looked inquisitively at Janine, who was staring after her mother. "Who's Tom?"

X-X-X-X-X

James pushed his potatoes around his plate with his fork, avoiding looking at his mother or his friend (his father was still at work). "Mum?" he finally asked, having plucked up the courage. She glanced at him, and James noticed that she hadn't touched her food either, although she didn't play with it as he did.

"Yes, James?"

"You went to school with Mr. and Mrs. Garnet, right?"

"Yes…" Her eyes were shrewd; her face set in a frown. Clearly, she didn't like the direction that this conversation was taking.

"Did you know anybody named Tom?"

Smash.

Mrs. Potter had jerked involuntarily, and her hand had knocked into a crystal goblet of wine, sending it flying from the table and into the wall, crashing into thousands of glass splinters. James watched the red wine drip down the walls; saw Mrs. Potter call for a house-elf to clean it up; caught Sirius's eye.

He had touched a nerve.

"Yes, Biddy, thank you…" Mrs. Potter watched the elf magically vanish the stain and the glass shards. Then she turned to James. "No. I knew nobody by that name."

"You're lying."

"Don't take that tone with me, James Potter. You finish your dinner and go to bed. And that goes for you, too, Sirius." She cut her eyes at the other boy, who nodded meekly and buried his face in his food again. "I'm retiring now, James. Biddy, tell me when Edward arrives home."

"Yes, ma'am." Both Mrs. Potter and the elf left the room.

Sirius looked up from his now-empty plate, staring at James. "There's definitely something weird going on. Who's this 'Tom' character, anyway?"

X-X-X-X-X

Flashback to Earlier in the Day

"Who's Tom?"

"Tom… I don't know." Janine looked thoughtful, drumming her fingers on the couch arm. "She's never mentioned a 'Tom' before. Reckon we could find some old yearbooks in the library and take a look?"

"I guess," said Lily doubtfully. "Your mum was at Hogwarts about the same time as Professor McGonagall, right?"

"I think so. Maybe six or seven years younger – I can't really remember. Think she'd tell us if we asked?"

"She said 'Tom and his Death Eaters,' didn't she?" suggested Alyssa. "What about this Dark Lord character? Maybe it's-"

"No way," interrupted James. "Why would she call him Tom, then? I heard his name was Vol-"

"Don't say it!" said Perry sharply. Everyone stared at him. "Don't say it," he said again. "There'll come a time when few will dare to speak his name – and they will be either very brave or very foolish. That time is beginning now."

Lily frowned at him. "You know more, don't you?"

"Maybe."

"Want to share?" asked Jeffrey crankily from the corner.

"No. It's not my place to say."

"But-"

"Anyway, I don't know anything about this Tom fellow. I know other things. But not anything that'll be of use right now. If you want to know who Tom is, I suggest you ask Mum. Or Dad; he might know."

"Maybe it was someone who was with them at school," suggested Damien slowly, and then he looked to James. "Which would mean that your parents must've known him. Why don't you ask them?"

"I will," quickly promised James. He turned to Sirius and Alyssa. "Reckon it's safe to go home now?"

"You should probably wait until your mother comes," said Jeffrey in a business-like tone. "Anyway, all this speculation isn't getting us anywhere – we'll just have to ask later. But there's no on to ask right now, so we'll have to wait. And while we're waiting, is anybody up for a game of magical billiards?"

X-X-X-X-X

Back in the Present

"Hey, Janine?" Lily glanced at her friend, who was tugging her night shirt straight. "Perry's made some weird comments today. And every time I want to ask, you cut me o-"

"It's going to be lovely tomorrow. Goodness, I hope this snow continues – can you imagine what it would be like if it were snowing on Christmas morning? I imagine it'd be just wonderful."

"Janine. Tell me the truth. Who am I going to tell?"

"Fair point. All right, then." Janine sighed and flopped on her bed. "Perry fancies himself a Seer. I don't know if he is or not, but he clearly has some sort of talent. He can tell things before they happen. The thing is, he's wrong a lot of the time, so we stopped believing him after a while. Today, though…"

"You feel bad, because he told you and you didn't do anything about it?"

"Well, yeah. Our family knows to keep it all hushed up – we try to cover up the guilt, I suppose. Oh, Lily, you can't tell about his talents. Sometimes he's actually right, you know. Remember, he said 'I know everything'? He really does know everything. He knows more about people he's just met than their own parents do. He just… he just knows…"

"That's sort of scary."

"Yeah. He probably is reading our minds right now."

Lily shivered at the thought. "Let's talk about something else."

"Yeah." She gave Lily a weak smile. "Nice weather we're having, eh?" Lily laughed, but it was fake.

X-X-X-X-X

Marlene McKinnon sat in her small, muggle home, flipping absent-mindedly through channels. Her mother was a Muggle, but her father was a wizard. Both were probably asleep, but had allowed Marlene to stay up and wait for her brother.

Andrew McKinnon was an Auror, which meant that he was still out at 'work.' Which meant that something had happened, and he wouldn't tell Marlene what.

As if he had sensed her thoughts, the door opened to admit him. He tossed his keys on the kitchen counter and flopped on the sofa beside Marlene. "Whatcha watchin', Marly?"

"Football." She showed him.

"Who's playing?"

"I don't know. I wasn't actually paying attention." With a sigh, she flipped the television off. "Will you tell me what happened now?"

"Death Eater attack at Diagon Alley." Marlene sucked in a breath. "Yeah, I know. It's pretty bad. Total death count: seventeen. Wounded… there's thirty-two, so far. I checked the casualty list." He touched her hair. "There were four kids; two Hogwarts students." After a moments' hesitation, he added, "One was a Muggleborn."

"Who were they?"

"The first one was eleven, I think… told me he was a Hufflepuff. That's the muggleborn kid. Grant something-or-the-other. The other one was a Ravenclaw, I remember them saying. Some fourth year. Can't remember her name."

Marlene didn't cry for people she didn't know, but she felt sad. "That's terrible. Who would do that?"

"The Dark Lord." He looked away. "Since about two years ago, the guy's been gaining popularity. People are afraid to say his name, nowadays." He sighed. "Be careful when you get back to Hogwarts, you hear?"

"I will be," Marlene swiftly promised, and said, "Andrew, d'you think I'll become an Auror?"

"I hope so. God knows the job is bloody annoying with nobody to make fun of all the time." He ruffled her hair. "You're sixteen, Marly. Don't think on it too hard – you've still got another year and a half before you enter the real world."

"Yeah," said Marlene, staring out the window. "Yeah, a year and a half…"

X-X-X-X-X

James drained his glass of water, ignoring Sirius as his friend impatiently tapped his foot against the tile floor. "I fail to see why I had to come down so you could get a glass of water."

"Don't be a prat. That was the excuse I gave the house-elves. Dad just got home – we're going to sneak up to my parents' room and hear what they have to say."

"What makes you think they'll say anything?"

"Are you kidding? Of course they'll want to talk. About this Diagon Alley business, and somewhere near the end, Mum will casually mention that we commented on this 'Tom' fellow, and then…"

"I think that Tom is You-Know-Who's name."

"You-Know-Who?"

"Well, you know… the Dark Lord."

"Why don't you just say his bloody name?"

"Because…"

"Because what?"

"They say he has ears everywhere… and he knows who you are, what you do, what you say…"

"God, Sirius, you make him sound like the bloody bogey man. Come on." James let his glass drop into the sink and the boys quickly and silently made their way to Mr. and Mrs. Potter's bedroom.

"…Know, Edward."

"Kat, you should have seen those kids' parents. Sobbing uncontrollably. This Dark Lord isn't like the rest… we should have known… he always was a bad sort."

"Eddy…"

"James asked about it, you say? Well, you know James. He's sixteen. He'll forget about it in the morning."

"I hope so."

"Of course he will. He's got more important things to worry about – like that what's-her-name… Evans? The redhead. The girl he's obsessing over…"

"Now, Eddy."

"I'm just saying. The boy's acting like a prat over this girl. Who is she, anyway? I've never even seen her…"

Now Mrs. Potter's voice became annoyed. "Well, if you occasionally came to pick your son up…"

Mr. Potter's voice took on a different tone. "Don't start with me, Kat. The Aurors need me there, especially nowadays. I'd love to spend more time with you and James – hell, even with Sirius, the poor kid – but I don't have time anymore. Once this war is over…"

"War?"

"It's getting serious, now, Kat. He isn't like the rest. It won't be that easy to get rid of him."

"Dumbledore can do it."

"Let's hope so." There was a loud yawning sound. "Come on, let's go to bed…"

"Edward? Do you really think James will forget about it so easily?"

"Of course he will. He's sixteen, and his head's full of teenage dreams… he won't even remember in the morning." The candles flickered out, and light stopped filtering through the crack at the bottom of the door. "'Night, Kat."

"Good night…"

Sirius and James exchanged looks. Both knew that they wouldn't be forgetting about 'Tom' anytime soon.

X-X-X-X-X

A/N: Sorry for being so long on the update, and thanks for all the awesome reviews! To compensate for the fact that I haven't updated since 10 days ago (upon reflection, that's really not all that long, but I won't keep you in suspense much longer, because I was mean and left it at a cliffhanger), I made this chapter extra-super-duper long! And then there's that whole thing where if I cut out the last scene, it wouldn't REALLY fit in with the next chapter. Speaking of which… Coming Up in the next few chapters: Christmas, the Garnets' Masquerade, James being fancied by a rather flirty mirror who insists that he's 'adorable and so yummy that she could eat him up with a spoon', who Janine's been snogging all this time, and then there's that OTHER person she's snogging (whom you don't know about yet, but you'll find out), another 'would-not'/'would-too' sort of conversation (although not between James and Sirius this time), Lily's meeting with Mrs. Morgan (Janine's rather stiff and bigoted grandmother who insists she ought to marry Fabian Prewett), and gasp! some competition for James! Plus much more… (depending on how much I like the chapter, that is, and what I feel like adding in…) Anyway, leave me lots of reviews and I'll be thrilled! The more reviews I get, the sooner I'll update…

Okay, so I explained the whole prefects-points thing in the last chapter. If you didn't catch it, go read the author's note at the end (Shame on you if you haven't! No life-size HP dollies for you! …Just kidding, really.) And now, to answer the note about vacation being three weeks and not two, here is my reply…

…Oops?

Okay, seriously, I could go back and change it, but I'm too lazy to. Maybe I'll do it later. I don't know. Depends on how crabby I'm feeling. (Which is actually sort of funny, because I'm a Cancer… you know, cancer the crab? Yeah, okay, stupid joke my dad used to make…)

And kudos to all my reviewers! I'm out of life-size Remus and Sirius dollies (sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry!)… So I'll just have to give you life-size Draco Malfoy dollies, although Draco Malfoy isn't in this story… I'd give out Ron Weasley dollies or Oliver Wood dollies, but those are mine! MINE MINE MINE!!!

Okay, I'm done acting stupid and as though I've had too much sugar. Leave me reviews, and I'll love you forever! Peaches

Oh, and P.S.: If you haven't already, please-please-please check out my DHr story ("What It Takes")! I know I only have one chapter so far, and I swear that I'll update as soon as I get out of my writer's block slump… on that story, at least. So please go read "What It Takes," and "Let Go" (complete! Starring Remus J. Lupin, our one and only werewolf…) Thanks much!