Lily's eyes were huge as they poured over the tattered looking parchment. We'd bewitched it to make it Undeterorable, but it kept up the appearance it had had after out countless hours of drawing, sketching, changing, labeling… It had taken us a full year of research and hard work. Yeah, I know. Us Marauders do tend to work, just not in class. If it's to out advantage, it's head down for us. It was particularly difficult to map Hogwarts and the passages leading in and out, considering Hogwarts was Unplottable, but we managed it. With a few tricks.

All we could see of Lily was a mane of red hair swinging back and forth as she shook her head.

'How did you manage to do something like this? This is… wow..'

Sirius, Remus and I grinned at each other. We knew. We knew just how hard it'd been but hey, just because we were pranksters didn't mean we were stupid. In fact, it was the complete opposite. Remus was, of course, the really brainy one, whereas Sirius and I were the quick thinkers. Remus would pore over the books, find the best information, and Sirius and I could debate well into the night about twisting different pieces of information together. That's how we made the map. Remus looked up all about Hogwarts and magical mapping, Sirius and I found the loop holes between plotting the whereabouts of the castle on maps and plotting the layout of the castle on a map purely of the castle and created within the castle. See, if you're trying to draw a dot on the map for a castle, the dot will just disappear. But if you are actually in the place, the magic contradicts itself. It was created to hide the castle. But if you're in the castle, it's whereabout can't be denied, can it? It can't be hidden if you're standing smack bang in the middle of it. The magic doesn't uphold making a map of the layout of the castle. So, we muttered the protective spells and the spells that hide the true purpose of the parchment. Peter drew the layout.

Half an hour later, we were slinking along through one of the passages through the dungeous. Not for the first time I wondered what Hogwarts may have been before it was a school. Surely the teachers wouldn't have used a stetching table on students… then again…

Ducking through a tapestry, we ran the length of the dark corridor beyond and Sirius dropped to his knee, hauling up a cleverly enchanted Chameleon Trapdoor. He paused and looked up at Remus and I.

'What about Peter?'

I looked around guiltily. We should have gone back and woken him up… But then again he'd sleep until late afternoon, if we left him.

'It's too late to go back now,' Remus said, glancing over his shoulder.

'I could go…' I honestly didn't want to. Don't get me wrong, he was a good mate but sometime he was just a bit… well, clingy. Desperate for friends. I remembered back in first year that Sirius had teased him the first night. Sirius and I had known each other before Hogwarts. Not too well, he was a Black and I was a Potter. Different branches of the same tree, you see. My parents didn't approve of his and their pureblood obsession and his parents loathed mine. Because of their pureblood obsession. Anyway, we'd still known and liked each other and I'd pulled him and Remus aside after Peter had fallen asleep and told them that if it was only going to be the four of us in that dorm for seven years, it wasn't really fair to leave Peter out. So, Peter had slipped nervously into the group. Personally, I think he was a bit astounded at the fact that we'd accepted him. He gave me the impression that he'd never had many friends.

Remus just shook his head. 'Next time. Come on, we're halfway there.'

Lily jumped down the trapdoor first and Remus slipped into the darkness a second later. I grinned at Sirius and he winked as, with a deep breath, I jumped. It seemed like I fell for at least five minutes, but it was nowhere near that long. I landed with a loud 'oof!' on what felt like a stack of mattresses and shuffled off of them before Sirius calmly crashed into the spot where I'd been laying just a few moments before.

'Come on!'

Lily was up ahead, raring to go. We laughed and tore after her, tripping noisily over the stray stones. It was dark and I got the strong feeling that, to keep from stacking it, Sirius had transformed behind me. Lily would have no idea. But the second it turned light, Sirius was back, standing beside me, tongue lolling. I nudged him and he reeled iit back in with a sheepish grin.

'Sorry, forgot.'

Up ahead was a small opening and Remus was gingerly stretching his head through the gap, looking all around. Suddenly he was gone, exploding out of the gap. Lily followed and I tore after her. After Sirius wriggled through we were off, running down the steep hill's track. We were just outside Hogmeade, and had just emerged from a hole in a cave, hidden in the side of a hill. Lily shrieked excitedly and sped ahead, kicking up the golden and red leaves. It was cold and the wind whipped the pink into our cheeks as we ran after her, cloaks flying and flapping around our Muggle clothes.

Lily skidded to a stop and turned to look at us, eyes shining, hair tangled and windblown, cheeks red.

'Where to, boys?'
'Three Broomsticks!'

'Zonko's!'

'Honeydukes!'

All three of us answered at the same time. She grinned. 'Three Broomsticks, then Honeydukes, then Zonko's. I'm freezing and hankering after some Butterbeer and I want to reduce the chances on me being pranked before we get back.'
Sirius snorted. 'I think it's us that should be worried.' He snapped his heels together, executing a pathetic attempt at a salute. 'After you, mein whol general!'

She smiled sweetly and turned, leading the way down the deserted street.