Disclaimer- If it was mine, I'd be blonde. I'm not.

Chapter 8: Lights, Camera, Action!

Previously: Though it was far from alright. They all knew why Sarah's sister had been put down. Werewolves were common followers of Voldemort. Even if it was just a little girl, no-one wanted them around. But Remus was safe, of course, right? Suzie, Caroline, Sirius and James left quietly, leaving Remus to deal with Sarah.

Nothing very much happened over the next week, and the weekend came and went with nothing more interesting than Sirius', James' and Caroline's last-minute rush to finish their homework, pleading with their friends to check it over, just having it done in the nick of time, and the moon was waxing, which was a slight worry for Remus. He had grown a lot closer to Sarah after the incident on the Saturday morning, and they were hardly ever seen apart. Caroline and Sirius loudly and often deplored the fact that two of their best friends had gone 'all lovey-dovey', which Sarah and Remus would deny profusely, although their beetroot faces seemed to imply the contrary. These conversations amused James, who had noticed that Sirius and Caroline seemed to be joined at the hip, too.

On Thursday evening, Sirius signalled something to James, and left his conversation with Caroline, after a whisper in her ear. She looked annoyed, amused, and finally resigned, and joined Suzie and Sarah (Remus had been feeling ill, and had gone to the hospital wing) in a game of Exploding Snap. Peter had been flicking ink pellets in the fire, but when he accidentally hit a first-year he joined the girls in their game.

Meanwhile, James had received the signal roughly translated as 'time for Plan', decided to put off his homework till later, and went over to see Lily diligently putting the finishing touches to her last essay. As Lily finished her homework, she noticed that James was leaning over her shoulder reading it.

'Hello, Ja– er, Potter.'

'Hello, my Lily Flower. That was a good point you made, three lines in.'

'Hey!'

'I've done that one. Now, if it had been Potions or History of Magic, you would be right to be indignant.'

Lily rolled her eyes, smiling slightly, 'Ho ho. What do you want?'

'Who says I want anything?'

Lily looked up at him. He had an innocent look on his face, and Lily suddenly realised how brown his eyes were.

Brown and … don't think it, girl, don't think it, don't think it…

'Lily?'

'Sorry, I'm sorry. What is it?'

'Would you like to come on a walk with me around the grounds?'

Lily was surprised. The grounds were lovely after dark, but it was after curfew. She wanted to say no but James' hopeful face and her obviously confused brain tempted her to break the rules.

'Well, yes I would, but can we? I mean…'

'I am a Marauder. Of course we can. If you go outside the portrait and close your eyes for a minute, we'll go, all right?' Lily gave him a sceptical look, so James added, "Live a little! It's only a walk…"

Lily considered for a moment, and eventually said, 'All right.'

She climbed out of the portrait hole, and James went to get his cloak. As he went past the girls and Peter (who had lost his eyebrows after a particularly bad hand, and was attempting to charm them back, to general amusement), he said quickly and quietly, 'Action.'

Lily and James crept downstairs and outside under the invisibility cloak, where they threw it off.

'I didn't know you had an invisibility cloak!'

'There's a lot of things you don't know about me, for instance, you don't know that I know your favourite song is Misty, closely followed by Eternal Flame and All You Need is Love.'

'No, I didn't! How do you know that?'

'You sing in the bath.'

'And you listen?'

'Well, yes. Naturally.'

'That's slightly creepy. Are you stalking me?'

'No! That's disgusting! I'm not stalking you!'

He paused.

'Maybe. Probably. A bit.'

'I didn't know that either!'

James laughed.

By this time they were near the lake, and Lily had picked up some stones and started skimming them.

'Three skips! Beat that!'

'I don't know how!'

'I'll teach you then. EVERYONE should know how to skim pebbles. The girls say it's a boy thing. Well, Suzie said it was a boy thing first - I'd tried to teach her before. Sarah and Caroline tried to learn, but then Caroline got bored, and Sarah got frustrated. So they agreed with Suzie.'

'They're wrong. It's a Lily thing.'

'Why?'

'I have never seen anyone skim pebbles as well as you.'

'Thank you!'

Lily took James' hand, put the pebble in it, and guided it, showing him how to throw, and explaining the movement as she went. After seven tries, he got it.

'I can do it! I can do it!'

Lily burst out laughing. 'You sound like Petunia sounded when she first worked out how to do her nails properly!'

'I sound like your giddy muggle sister?'

'Well, yes!'

'Oh no!'

'Big deal! You could be her sometimes, what with the shrieking, the giggling, the horse-like face...'

'Charmed, I'm sure.'

Both of them were by this time sitting on the ground laughing. Lily, having never known or dreamt that she could have this much fun, just by breaking the rules, was finding it hard to breathe, she was laughing so hard. James was having great fun too, and had completely forgotten The Plan.

Just then, they both heard a growl. Their laughs died away, and the happiness dissipated from Lily's head. She suddenly realised that no-one knew where they were, and that they were out in the grounds, after curfew. There's a reason for rules, she thought, uncomfortably aware that she was in the exact situation curfew was meant to prevent, and that both this thought and feeling were about half an hour too late.

'James, what's that?' Lily crept closer to James, whispering in fright as a huge doglike animal came through the bushes surrounding them.

'I... I don't know.' He was being partly truthful. He had remembered The Plan by now, but this was not Sirius' animagus form. This was not a dog, but…

It was a huge wolf. It was Remus, as a wolf.

James transformed. He would try to subdue Remus, but this was not a joke; not planned. As he fought him, he soon realised that he, James, was losing pitifully. What a time to lose a fight, he thought despondently.

Remus was agitated, as none of them had come with him this time. Then, as Remus tore at his leg, James fell, and to his dismay he saw Remus charging at Lily. James tried to stop him, but his leg couldn't stand his weight. Remus was closing in on Lily, drawing nearer and nearer, and she was backing away, looking absolutely petrified...

Ooh! A cliffie! It's just a shame that you can simply go to the next chapter and see what happens. Ho-hum. Please review, about, about…plasticine. Yes. Plasticine. Something in the chapter would be good, too.

Larka :)