Disclaimer: Honestly, do you really think I'm J.K. Rowling? Well, let me clarify just incase; I'm not her.

A/N: Thanks to the following reviewers: Hikari Annie, Totally Raven, Lils, HaloAngel, Sam's Firefly, and warm summer days. Thank you so much! You are my inspiration to keep writing!

Hm, so sorry about the long wait. School has been hectic and I just didn't have time to write the next chapter. But finally, this weekend while I was lying in bed sick (ugh, I hate being sick...) I decided to write and here's the result!

Since it's been a while, here's a short re-cap. So, when we last left off, Lily had read James' letter and had attempted, and failed, to get Sirius to give her permission to talk to James. Also, the boys were coming up with a plan to get their beloved map back...

I hope you like chapter 6! And sadly, we're coming to the end of this story. Only one or two chapters left! So depressing, this story was like my baby! lol

Happy reading!

OOO

Chapter 6: Operation Jailbreak

"Padfoot, why are you acting like my personal body guard today?" James asked as Sirius peeked around the hallway corner first to insure the coast was clear. All day Sirius had been following James around school, looking around corners before James could turn them apparently looking for an axe-murderer who was sneaking about. He had volunteered Remus and Peter to circle James as well between classes, and every time Lily would pass, Sirius, Remus, and Peter would tighten their circle around James.

James couldn't fathom what this was all about. At first he just thought that his friends were being overly friendly today until they got to lunch and Sirius insisted on tasting James' pumpkin juice to make sure it hadn't been poisoned.

"You never know where Evans may be hiding," Sirius said stealthily, pushing James flat up against a wall as a group of giggling girls passed by.

Pushing his best friend roughly off him, James straightened his Head Boy badge as a sniggering fourth year Slytherin walked by, sneering at the Marauders. "What?" Sirius hollered after the boy's back, "You've never seen a guy protect his best friend before?"

What in the name of Godric Gryffindor had gotten into Sirius? "Moony, do you guys know something I don't?" James asked, as Sirius took the lead of the group and glared at any girl who happened to cross his path.

"Apparently," Remus began as Sirius whipped out his wand upon seeing a flash of something red, which turned out to be a colored reflection off of somebody's wrist-watch, "Padfoot has a suspicion that Lily is out to kill you," Remus finished, smirking slightly as Sirius told off the unfortunate owner of the red-light reflecting watch.

"I don't have a suspicion," Sirius said, jumping back into the conversation, "it's a fact. Evans told me herself last night."

Peter walked along side James as he spoke up. "Lily told you she wanted Prongs dead?" he asked.

Waving his hand as if brushing the question off, Sirius said, "She implied it."

His heart sinking slightly, James wondered if the Felix Felicis had failed him when it had urged him to write that note. Or perhaps Lily still hadn't gotten it…or maybe she had already found it and was disgusted even more by his attempt to fix their relationship, or lack thereof. But why would she want him dead? She had already gotten her revenge by losing their map; they were even. What more could she possibly want?

Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius. "I thought you said that she told you she only wanted to talk to James. You didn't tell me anything about Lily mentioning she wished to become a murderer."

Sirius sighed, as if he were handed the ghastly task of teaching a toddler their ABCs. "Moony. When a woman says 'they want to talk', nothing good ever comes from that. Girls are complicated, much more complex than us males. 'Let's talk' is always code for 'this isn't working; we should break up', or 'let's talk so I can lead you away from other people and do what I want to you', or—"

"—or maybe she just wanted to talk," Remus interrupted simply.

Sirius crossed his arms defiantly. "Look, do you want to waste time analyzing Evans' emotions and thoughts, or do you want to get our plan to get our map back rolling?"

As depressed as he was about the fact that Lily may never give him another chance again, James' ears perked up at the mention of their plan. His heart beat began to race excitedly as it usually did before their pranks made their debuts to the student population. James nodded, the old mischievous glint returning to his eyes. "Let's do this."

OOO

His body full covered in his silvery cloak, James immediately became invisible to everyone as he stood around the corner from where the caretaker's office was located. Everybody should be making their way back from dinner by now…any second Filch would come running to his office, his precious Mrs. Norris strutting behind him.

Right on cue, a wheezing voice came from down the hall and James could fully see Filch muttering under his breath to his cat companion. "….nasty children, the lot of them. If they knew I had the authority to whip them raw, never again would they trail mud into the Great Hall…"

The caretaker pulled out a set of jingling keys from his raggedy coat pocket, unlocked his office door, and closed it again with a snap. James grinned from his spot. Filch was right where they wanted him…

Knowing the timing was perfect, James reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small mirror. "Sirius Black," he muttered into the round piece of glass as some Hufflepuffs passed by him on their way to their common room. For a second, James was simply staring at his reflection, but then Sirius' shining face appeared in the mirror.

"We're all set up here," Sirius greeted as Remus stuck his face closer to the mirror as well so now James could see them both.

A grin crossed across James' face. "Excellent. Filch just entered his office. And Wormtail?" James asked.

"He's at his lookout post," Remus confirmed.

"You two remember the incantation and everything, right?"

A mad gleam covered Sirius' features, a coy smile spreading across his face. James could see Sirius reach into his robes and pull out his slender wand. "Of course, mate. We've got this."

"Have fun," James exclaimed.

"Don't we always?" Sirius said and with that Sirius' and Remus' faces disappeared and James was once more looking at his reflection.

A few seconds passed quietly as more and more students passed through the hallway where James stood in invisible. Anxiously, he waited for any noise that would alert to the plan being put into action. And then…

BOOM!

The ceiling right above him shook violently as the sound of something very big and very heavy fell onto the ground. Many students jumped in surprise and stared up at the ceiling as if they could see right through it.

The door to Filch's office blasted open, and not a split second after the noise, Argus darted away up the staircase to the floor above. In his haste to catch the rule-breaking miscreant he had forgotten to lock his office door behind him.

James smiled. It was on.

OOO

"Oh, come on, Lils. You're bound to get a chance to talk to him sometime soon," Olivia was saying to a distraught Lily after dinner.

"Not if bloody-Sirius-Black keeps interfering. I mean, did you see that look he gave me—"

A large explosion sounded from a couple floors above them, causing Lily to break off and glace upward. "What the—"

The ground vibrated slightly as the sound of a bookcase falling over broke through the happy chattering of the crowd. "If Peeves is throwing the trophies in the Trophy Room around again, I swear…" Lily muttered as she grabbed her friend and together they raced up the staircases, pushing through the throng of students who were all attempting to locate the source of commotion.

As they climbed their second set of stairs, Lily began to distinguish different noises. Now accompanying the loud explosion sounds were shrieks of cheering and laughter mixed in with the clanking of metal.

"It sounds as if someone is sparring with forks and knives," Olivia commented. And her guess wasn't entirely off. As the two girls rounded a corner into an opening, a very loud, but amusing scene, met their eyes.

In the middle of the group of student spectators, two suits of armor appeared to be having an intense wrestling contest as the other stationary suits of armor shouted out encouraging cheers. "Your sword, dear sir. Use your sword!" one of the knights called out as one of the competitors made a dent in his enemy's chest armor with his medieval spiked-club.

"What is going on here?" Lily yelled, trying to make herself heard over the noise right as one of the suits of armor got thrown heavily onto the ground, causing the portrait nearby to totter dangerously on its hook. As she tried to make her way closer to the commotion, someone reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her backwards through a concealed passage way behind a tapestry.

"What the hell, Sirius?" Lily exclaimed, clutching her chest wildly. "You scared the mess out of me!"

Sirius chuckled as Remus watched the fight occurring outside. "Sorry, but I couldn't let you put a stop to this," Sirius said, still clasping her arm so she couldn't get away.

Lily's eyes widened. "You did this?" she asked, staring at Sirius and Remus.

Remus had the heart to look guilty, but Sirius merely laughed as a young Ravenclaw nearly got beheaded by a wildly slashing sword. "It's funny, no?" he asked.

"Funny?" Lily said in disbelief, waving her hand at the commotion happening outside. "You think having portrait inhabitants running for cover, knights battling each other with lethal weapons, and students nearly getting a body part decapitated is amusing?" she exclaimed.

"Well, when you put it like that…." Remus stated ashamedly, glancing at Lily shortly.

"I'm sorry, but I have to put a stop to this. Endangering other students…honestly." She made to tare back through the hidden passage way, but Sirius tightened his grip on her, a smile appearing on his lips.

"No need, Filch is here to save the day," he stated, shooting a victorious look at Remus who smiled weakly. At least their plan was working so far.

"Oh please, you know as well as I that Filch can't do anything about this mess," Lily said, attempting to pull her arm out of Sirius' hand.

"Exactly," Sirius stated happily.

Lily glared, staring at the two Marauders, and then something clicked. Something was missing from this picture. "Where's James and Peter?" Lily asked curiously, her eyes narrowing. Whatever this was, it couldn't be good.

"That's nothing you should worry about dear Head Girl," Sirius responded.

Her temper flared, but was stopped from exploding at the sight of Filch attempting to break the two brutal knights apart with a mop. In one swift motion, one of the competitors reached out, grabbed the offending mop out of the caretaker's hands and had whacked Filch upside the head with it. Cursing angrily and rubbing his pounding head, Filch ran from the scene and back to his office, probably off to find some other choice for a weapon.

Sirius' smile fell and Remus watched horridly as Filch exited the corridor. "Oh no…" Remus said.

With one hand still holding on to Lily, Sirius pulled a mirror from his pocket hastily. "James Potter." Lily gasped when the untidy black hair of James appeared in the glass. Mildly surprised, James looked at Lily then back towards Sirius, confusion written on his face.

"Prongs, mate, Filch is heading back towards you," Sirius exclaimed. Lily watched as James' eyes widened fearfully. His hand, which had been hovering over an assortment of files in a filing cabinent, dropped to his side. "Is there anyway you can hold him off? I haven't found it yet!" James said desperately.

"Look, mate, you have your cloak. Just stay there until he leaves again," advised Sirius.

"What about Mrs. Norris?" Remus asked. The four boys had always had a suspicion the somehow that cat could tell where they were even when hidden by the invisibility cloak. Cheers and clanking noises could still be heard as the battle raged on outside.

James opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out as he his head quickly turned sideways. "Guys, he's here. I have to go!" And with that the mirror went blank once again.

Sirius swore as Remus began pacing frantically. Lily bit her lip. "This was the plan, wasn't it? The plan to get your map back?" she asked slowly.

Remus did a double take. "You know about our map?"

"There's no time for that now," Sirius said hastily. "We're going to have to figure out a way to save Prongs and fast."

Lily chewed the inside of her cheeks nervously. After all, if James was caught he could potentially get expelled and it would be mostly her fault. "You two get this situation under control," she said suddenly, "I'm hoping you two know the counter spell for this prank of yours. I'll go get James."

OOO

James didn't dare to even breathe as Filch entered his office, Mrs, Norris slinking in behind her master. To James' horror, Filch closed the door behind him. Immobile and helpless, James stood beside the open filing cabinet he had been searching through, having not had the time to close it.

"If only I was allowed to hang those kids by the thumbs in the dungeons…rule-breaking pranks…we will catch them, my sweet," Filch was muttering to his cat as he limped across his office, apparently thinking about what to do next. James fleetingly thought it was odd how Filch hadn't immediately called for another teacher to come put an end to the prank upstairs; perhaps he didn't want the students knowing he was helpless…

Mrs. Norris' lamp-like eyes turned straight towards the spot where James stood underneath his invisibility cloak. He had to get out of here…but if he left without the map, their whole plan would have been for nothing. James quickly sucked in his breath as Filch approached the filing cabinet and wrenched open a drawer, pulling out a wad of detention slips. That's when something caught his attention.

Confiscated and Highly Dangerous.

Why hadn't he looked there first? As quietly as he could, and while Filch was busy pulling out more and more detention slips, James reached into the file and pulled out the first thing his hand came in contact with. Praying it was the map, James withdrew his clenched hand from the cabinet right as Filch shut the drawer. In his haste to make sure his fingers didn't get smashed in the drawer, James drew his hand back, the edge of the cloak making contact with Filch's arm.

At least he had gotten the map.

Filch stared around wildly, his eyes wide as if it would help him see better. "Who's there?" he called out in an oily, shaky voice. Mrs. Norris meowed, her eyes following James as he silently made his way over to the door. Even if the caretaker saw his door open by an invisible force, he would never know it was James.

Victoriously, James ripped open the office door and sprinted out of the office. Before he knew what was happening, he ran into something solid that had been running from the opposite direction and he, and the person, tumbled to the ground, rolling over one another.

Completely winded, the obstacle he had rammed into landed right on top of him and his invisibility cloak was no longer covering him but lying in a bundle underneath his back.

"James?" the voice exclaimed surprisingly.

"Lily?"

"Well, well, well, I thought you would have had something to do with all of this, Potter."

James' heart dropped as Lily quickly scrambled off of him and onto her feet, the Marauder's Map still clutched tightly in his hand. Why hadn't he had enough sense to put it into his pocket?

"I believe two weeks of detention is in order; if I had it my way you'd be hanging by your feet in the lowest part of this castle," Filch said, sheer happiness apparent in his voice. James stiffly sat up, making sure his cloak was still hidden beneath his buttocks. The last thing he need was for his cloak to be taken away as well.

Bringing the smell of rotten mothballs down with him, Filch leaned over James and snatched the originally confiscated item from its rightful owner. "You can join Miss red-head here for a third week of detention." Filch sneered.

James looked over at Lily who looked mildly upset at getting a detention. "What? No, Lily had nothing to do with any of this," he tried to assure Filch, because in all honesty, Lily hadn't done anything…except giving the map to Filch in the first place…

"It's alright," Lily said, glancing at James, "I probably deserve it."

"Too right you are, missy. My office tomorrow at eight. The Headmaster will most certainly be hearing about how his two heads broke the rules. Back in the old days students were lucky to get a detention. You would do well with a few whippings, Potter, but, regrettably, Dumbledore sticks with detentions…"

OOO

"Prongs!" Sirius, Remus, and Peter exclaimed as Lily and James walked into the common room.

"Is everything alright?" Remus asked, glancing between the two of them.

"I got three weeks of detention; Lily got one too," James said, plopping himself down onto a chair. He looked around at Lily. "Why were you running down there anyway?" he asked.

Lily shrugged, but attempted to get her spunk back. She couldn't get too soft now. "To save your sorry arse, you pathetic lump," she retorted. "Honestly, I can't believe you four would be so daft."

"I'm guessing we still have no map then," Sirius said glumly. There was silence as the five of them simply sat and thought. "I think I'll get to bed…maybe I'll wake up and find out this whole thing has been one horrible dream…" Sirius drifted off, groaning as he stood up and headed over to the boys' staircase. Remus and Peter soon followed, leaving Lily and James in an awkward silence.

Neither one said anything for a while. Lily looked up and studied James' features as he stared deeply into the fire. He was rather cute, and the fact the he had tried to save her from receiving detentions had been sweet… "I…er…I got the letter," she said quietly as the many students around them paid them no attention as they finished up homework.

James looked up and stared at her. His heart began pumping and his feet began shifting nervously. James Potter never got nervous! Except when he was around Lily Evans. Not really knowing what to say he simply nodded.

Lily sighed. "I tried to come find you last night…I wanted to talk to you."

"I'm sorry," James said, catching her eyes with his. He couldn't quite figure out her reaction towards the letter, but he hoped it wasn't a bad one. "I just…I liked it when we were friends and all…"

She began to blush slightly. Get a hold of yourself, Evans. It's only James Potter. But Lily couldn't help herself. No longer was this boy only some annoying thorn in her side who constantly pricked her. "No, don't be sorry. It wasn't arrogant, pig-headed, or anything. The letter was…nice."

OOO

Sorry that it had to be cut of at the part! I'll try to update sooner this time! Hopefully next weekend.

Next chapter: Confessions and stuff like that...

Thanks for reading!

--HeyLookTheSnitch