February

"Pass the butter, Prongs."

Nothing.

"Pass the butter, Moony."

Negative.

"Wormtail, pass the butter."

Nada.

"Evans, pass the butter."

"Why can't you get it yourself?"

"Because it's right in front of you."

"Your point?"

"I just wanted to see if you would be so kind as to-"

"Last I checked, you had both arms..."

"Damn, forget it." Sirius picked up his toast and took a bite, making a face at the red head and going for his goblet to wash it down. She raised an eyebrow and went back to reading the Daily Prophet.

"Lily, will you please pass the butter?"

"Sure." She laid down the paper and handed the butter tray to Remus. James sniggered at the look of indignation on Sirius's face.

"Do you have something against me and my toast?" Sirius asked, ignoring the others' grins.

Lily shook her head, not looking up. "Not particularly."

"Then what was that about?"

"You didn't say 'please.'" This got a snicker out of James, Remus, and Peter; Lily just smirked.

Sirius stood up, scowling, though good-naturedly. "Come on, let's go down to the pitch or something."

James stood up, motioning for the other two Marauders to join them. They had some... planning to do. Full moon soon, and they only had so many more months at Hogwarts. He gave Lily a quick kiss on the cheek, saying 'see you later.'

"What, am I not invited?" She smiled half-heartedly.

James was about to reply when Sirius interrupted. "You have to ask nicely, you should know that." James threw her a sympathetic look.

Lily ignored it, staring at Sirius. "Well, enjoy yourselves, try not to get too wet..."

All four Marauders looked up at the Great Hall's ceiling.

"When did it start raining?"

"About ten minutes ago, Captain Observant."

"Wasn't asking you, Evans," Sirius growled.

"Be more specific next time." She stood up as well, picking up the schoolbag she had brought with her. "And try not to get struck by lightning," she said over her shoulder, grinning. "It is Friday the 13th, you know."

------------

Hours later the Marauders were holed away in the Heads' common room, huddled over a makeshift map of Hogsmeade. It was not nearly the same caliber as their map of the school, but it was still helpful.

Originally when they had mastered their transformations, the four stayed within the walls of the Shrieking Shack. But soon even that became boring. They began to explore. First, they sent Peter out to scout ahead, and once they knew that it was (relatively) safe, they left the Shack and started roaming Hogsmeade. There had been close calls, but nothing overly dangerous. With the exception of the Snivellus incident the year before. They didn't speak of that.

Sirius had been strangely quiet for most of the day, not offering much in the way of suggestions for their upcoming full moon. Normally he came up with something devious and/or just plain fun.

"You alright, mate?" James asked, looking at Sirius, who quickly glanced up. He had been alternating between staring at the fireplace and the grandfather clock all day.

"Fine..." he said, slowly getting to his feet. "Hungry, actually. Who wants to go nick some food with me?"

James had barely gotten his mouth open to respond before Remus hopped up, saying, "Yeah, let's go!" He quickly led the way out, and a sulky, suspicious Sirius followed.

Silence filled the room, save for Peter's tapping of his quill against the cover of a textbook. James sighed loudly, trying to get his attention, but nothing doing.

------------

A different sort of silence had engulfed Remus and Sirius. The awkward kind. Remus had apparently lost his enthusiasm once they were out of the room. Now en route to the kitchens, the sound of their every footstep seemed to echo off the stone walls.

So it was a bit of a shock at the loud 'ow' that hit them (quite literally) when they rounded a corner.

"Damn it," said a decidedly female voice. To the boys' surprise, it was Lily. Remus kneeled to grab a book she had dropped, but Sirius had stiffened. After taking back her book and thanking Remus under her breath, she threw a slightly puzzled, slightly offended look at Sirius. "All right?" She tugged her sweater down, and Remus saw a bloom of purple stain on her white Oxford underneath.

Sirius gave an off-handed shake of his head. "Sure." Both Remus and Lily were giving him quizzical looks now. He nodded in the direction that Lily had come from. "Where've you been?" he asked.

"None of your business, really, is it?" Lily responded coolly, albeit with a twinkle in her eye.

Sirius evidently missed that. "Yeah, I think it is, actually."

"How come?" On the defensive, now. "Funny, I thought James was Head Boy, not you."

"Yeah, well," Sirius began eloquently. "Head Boy's best mate, that seems to warrant some respect. Seriously, where've you been?"

Lily raised an eyebrow, indignant. "Right, revered by the first years. What's that they call you? Padfoot? Well, Padfoot, since you asked so nicely, I've been helping Professor Slughorn."

"With what? Alone?"

Remus recognized the reddish tinge in her face to mean that she was getting fed up, fast. All the same, there was a bit of a worried glint in her eye.

"Slughorn asked me to help him with more difficult potion - Felix Felicis. And no, we weren't alone." She spat out the last word, hating the connotation.

"Who else was there, then?"

"Severus." She looked away, missing the stunned look on Sirius's face. "What does it matter?"

He was silent for a few seconds. Then: "Helping Slughorn. You're a horrible liar, Evans."

------------

A door slamming shut is one thing. A door slamming open is totally different.

James wondered how it was even possible for a door to slam open. Somehow, Lily had managed it. She had never failed to impress him.

Normally, when she looked as angry as she did, he would have glanced up, gave her a sympathetic but winning look, and then just let her have some space. Normally, she was just peeved about receiving less than top marks on a paper or an impertinent sixth year.

But there was something very different going on now. He quickly stood up, leaving Peter who had just finally stopped tapping his damn quill.

"Lily?"

"What?" came her snappy reply as she walked over to her desk.

"Are you okay?"

"Just great!"

He slowly edged over. "Yeah, seems like it." He watched as she flung her bag in the chair and peeled off her grey Hogwarts sweater. "What happened?" he asked quickly, noticing the bright purple stain on her shirt.

"I knocked over a vial on Slughorn's desk, it was an accident." She sniffed, still looking upset. "You can ask your best friend, though, he knows the real truth..."

James groaned. "I'm sure... come on, tell me what really happened."

Sighing, Lily went over to the couch, flopping down gracefully. She cast a glance at the papers on the coffee table, raising an eyebrow. James quickly followed her and brushed the papers to the floor, certain that she had seen the bold title on the Marauder's Map. He intended to inform her... eventually. Now wasn't the time, he guessed.

"Have I done something to him? He's being a total prat," she said. "He nearly accused me of..." She sighed, shaking her head. James's reaction wouldn't be good - either he wouldn't believe her, or worse, he'd believe Sirius. "It doesn't matter," she said, trying to smile.

James's brow was furrowed. It didn't take a genius to tell she was lying. But what would be bothering her so much? He chanced a look at Peter, who was staring between them as if they were a fast-paced tennis match. When he caught James's eye, he shrugged and cleared his throat.

"I think he's somewhat jealous," said Peter. Lily looked up at this and he was compelled to continue. "He sort of thought you two would have broken up by now..." The other two looked a bit shocked, a bit angry, and so Peter decided it was time for him to exit while he still could. "You didn't hear it from me!" He quickly grabbed his wand and walked out the door.

Lily grabbed a pillow from the other side of the couch and buried her face in it. James could barely hear her when she said, "I guess this is what I get for even waking up on Friday the 13th." She shook slightly; James hoped she was laughing.

"No worries," James said, infusing confidence into his voice. "Not your problem. Besides," he said, pulling the pillow away gently, "tomorrow's going to be a million times better."

She groaned. He frowned.

"Valentine's day. How could I have forgotten..."

He grinned. Her sarcasm was back, that was good. "Remember when I got that pixie to fly around behind you all day?"

"Unfortunately..." She was smiling, too, now.

"Not one of my better ideas, I know," he said, sitting down next to her and throwing an arm over her shoulders. "Just you wait, though."

Lily sat back, glancing over to him. "How many rules are going to be broken in the process?"

"More than you'd care to think about."

"Oh, good."

"Let's just say, part 'A' involves not going to Hogsmeade, two pinches of Floo Powder and this fireplace. And part 'B'... my invisibility cloak, ice cream, and the top of the Astronomy tower."

In between spurts of laughing, Lily managed to get out, "You're too much. Seriously..."

"I'm being serious!" He sighed dramatically and pulled her closer, sincerely hoping Sirius - or Remus or Peter, for that matter - didn't choose then to walk in on them. They'd be a bit busy...

A/N: If there was a contest as to how long you could go without updating, I would win, hands down. Accept my snivelling apology. I had absolutely no idea where to take this one- the first part just came to me randomly, and the rest wasn't as inspired. Failure at life as usual, I know. Please leave a review, even if you're flaming me, hehe.