Lily was happy as ever.
She and James had been going strong for a month and a half. They had gone on a few more dates, and all went better than planned. The gaps inbetween dates had been filled by impromptu snogging sessions in the empty common room. Lily liked those especially.
Over the past month, Lily had taken to hanging around James' friends more, or as they called themselves, The Marauders. She had taken a routine of discussing classes with Remus, while James and Sirius found something immature to do. Today, they were throwing Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans at each other to see who could land one in the other's mouth.
Lily was working on astronomy homework with Remus, while Peter was resupplying James and Sirius with beans.
Lily groaned. "This essay is going to be the death of me."
James caught a bean in his mouth. "Hey, I thought that was my job." He winked at her.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Since when are moon cycles going to be valuable to us in the real world? How am I supposed to automatically know when the next full moon is going to be?"
"Full moon is next week," said Sirius.
"Since when did you memorize the moon cycle, Sirius?"
All four marauders froze. Remus stiffened his quill and stopped writing. James stopped mid-chew on his bean. Peter's grip on the candy box tightened.
Sirius' eyes grew slightly wider. But he soon recovered with, "Not all of us procrastinate, Evans. I finished that essay yesterday."
James, Remus, and Peter all seemed to let out a quiet sigh. Lily looked at each of them, trying to piece together what she missed.
"Are you two really going to spend all night on that essay? It's Friday! Shouldn't we be doing something more eventful?" asked Sirius.
"Is my company not eventful enough for you, Padfoot?" James mocked offense.
"Something I don't have all the time already." Sirius caught one of James' beans in his mouth, and dived at Lily and Remus' feet. He slid below them with a smile, right before he gagged, spitting out the bean. "Earwax," he choked.
"You know, Padfoot's not wrong," James suggested. "You two should be doing something better than homework on a Friday night."
"So we should just not turn in our astronomy homework?" asked Lily in annoyance.
"Merlin, Lily. You've still got 3 days til it's due! Live a little!" Sirius waggled his eyebrows at Lily.
"I have to admit, I would like to do something other than just homework tonight," Remus mused.
"Yeah, let's go do something fun!" cheered Peter.
Lily gave up. "Oh, alright!" she huffed. In truth, she didn't want to be doing homework on a Friday night. She just wasn't used to doing much else.
James smiled as he slung an arm around her. "There's my Lilyflower." He kissed her forehead, and Lily couldn't help smiling.
"Anyone up for a little trip to Hogsmeade?" Sirius grinned at them. Peter nodded vigorously. Remus sighed. "Why not?" he said with a shrug.
James pointed at the ceiling. "Off to Hogsmeade!"
"But curfew already passed. How do you lot propose we get out without being caught?" Lily narrowed her eyes.
"We have our resources," James flashed her a smile.
They slunk out of the common room and into the hallway.
Sirius pulled out a piece of parchment, and Lily saw James pull out a silvery cloak she had not noticed before. Sirius muttered something, and the parchment was suddenly full of red ink. She saw moving names on it, all around places of Hogwarts. Where did this map come from?
"Filch is upstairs, McGonagall's in her office," He looked up. "Coast is clear." The boys all seemed to know where to go, because they moved towards the stairs and made their way up. They creeped in a line, pressed against the wall. Lily followed behind, but wasn't sure which way to turn when they had reached the landing. After a moment's hesitation, she felt a hand pull her in the right direction. She looked to see James pulling her forward.
"If we get detention for any of this," Lily hissed,"so help me Merlin, I'll-"
"Don't worry, Lils, we won't get caught. We have our ways," James reminded her.
They slinked along the coridoor until they reached an old statue. Sirius pulled out his wand and tapped it. The statue seemed to crack as it parted from the ground. There, a deep hole which Lily assumed to be tunnel, led deep underground.
"Leads to Honeydukes," Remus whispered, sensing Lily's confusion. Peter slid down the tunnel first, closely followed by Remus.
"See you on the other side," smirked Sirius.
Just as he disappeared, James and Lily heard the familiar footsteps of Filch. They heard a whisper from the tunnel that sounded like Sirius, who still had the map. "Filch! Filch!"
Before Lily could react, James tapped the statue, closing the tunnel, and threw the silvery cloak over himself and Lily. He pulled her flush against him, and they both held their breath.
Lily watched as Filch walked by with Mrs. Norris trailing his feet. Why had he not caught them? Clearly they looked ridiculous, a clump of fabric standing in the middle of the hallway.
But Filch passed, muttering in their wake. Lily looked back at James and saw him smiling with with an eyebrow raised. She realized she was embracing him in an effort to stay underneath the cloak.
"Hey there." He peered down at him with a smile creeping on his face.
Lily was putting two and two together. "James, is-is this an-"
"Invisibility Cloak?" James removed the cloak from them. "Family heirloom," he shrugged while tapping the statue with his wand. He gestured toward the tunnel. "Ladies first."
Lily approached the tunnel slowly. She stuck her feet in and pushed the walls for momentum. She felt herself falling, falling, until she reached a landing with a wooden plank missing overhead.
She pulled herself up, and was greeted by Remus, Peter, and Sirius.
"Well, you're here, so hopefully that means you both survived Filch." Sirius helped her out of the landing. "James show you the ol' invisibility cloak?" Lily nodded. Seconds later, James made his way through the floor. Lily looked around. They were in the cellar of Honeydukes.
"I have so many questions," Lily muttered, looking mystified. James placed a hand on her waist as he helped her up to the stairs. "All will be answered in good time, I promise," he whispered.
The arrived in the ground floor of Honeydukes. The boys resumed their slinking against the walls and Lily followed. When they had finally gotten outside, they made a break for The Three Broomsticks. James was running ahead while pulling Lily, who was giggling uncontrollably.
They all stumbled through the doors of the pub. Lily was sure they were caught when the barmaid, Rosmerta, saw them. But she just shook her head with a smile.
"Out after curfew again? Tsk tsk, boys."
James leaned on the counter. "We've only come for some Butterbeers, Rosie." He gave her his winning smile and she looked from him to the rest of the marauders.
"Alright, but two each, maximum. I don't need Dumbledore finding you lot in here at 2:00 in the morning."
"Now, Rosie. Would we ever do such a thing?" Sirius teased.
"Done it twice already, Black."
"Right, but Dumbledore never saw us, did he?"
Rosmerta didn't seem to have a good response to that, as she went to the back to get their butterbeers. Lily found a spot at the table where James, Peter, and Remus had already sat down.
"Something tells me you lot do this quite often." Lily looked questioningly at the 3 boys.
Remus gave a small chuckle. "What gave it away?" he smiled.
"Rosmerta never turns us in, or else McGonagall would have stopped us a while ago," said Peter.
Sirius returned to the table with their drinks. "Never one to be a rule-breaker, Evans. What's changed this time?" he questioned.
Lily shrugged. "Common room can get stuffy. Maybe I wanted a study break."
"Or you just enjoy hanging out with us too much to let us go without you," James suggested.
Lily sipped her drink. "It's possible."
For the next hour, they all drank butterbeer and laughed. Lily was strangely reminded of the last time she'd been here, on her first date with James. She was similarly enjoying herself. Especially when James told a joke and made her laugh so hard that butterbeer almost went up her nose.
She noticed that when the other marauders told a story, their eyes weren't quite as alive as James'. She could watch his eyes and see the whole story unfold.
When it was about midnight, they all finally decided to go back to the common room.
The five teens crept back up to Honeydukes, which had since closed. James pointed his wand at the lock. "Alohomora." The locked clicked out of place, and they quietly made their way back inside. Remus locked the door behind them all, and they went back to the cellar, through the floor, and back through the tunnel.
When they came back through the statue, Remus, Peter, and Sirius took the cloak, leaving James and Lily with the map.
"Is there a reason your friends keep leaving us alone?" Lily laughed softly.
"Probably think we're going to snog and don't want to stick around for it." James laughed in a whisper.
Lily rolled her eyes with a smile. Yeah right. She was not going to snog James at midnight in an empty corridor. But as his fingers intertwined with hers, she thought differently for a second. Her thoughts were interrupted by a small noise, to which James pulled her around the corner and checked the map. He let out a breath, which Lily took as them being in the clear.
"You don't normally do this without the cloak, do you?" She whispered.
"Never, actually." James was intent on the map. His eyes traveled up to meet hers. "Let's just hope you're my good luck charm."
They somehow made it to the common room without being seen. Lily had to admit, rule-breaking was a bit exhilarating. As they entered, three heads snapped around, but soon smiled when they realized it was James and Lily.
"Got sidetracked?" Sirius said suggestively.
"Nearly had a run in with Mrs. Norris, thanks to you lot," James glared.
Sirius yawned. "Well, that's enough adventure for one night. I'm off to bed. Moony, Wormtail?
The three boys proceeded towards the staircase.
"What about James?" Peter whispered.
"Prongs may be a few minutes," Sirius answered with a wink.
James and Lily rolled their eyes at this, as they sat on the couch by the fire.
"I know this wasn't exactly what you had planned for tonight, what with all the rule-breaking," James laughed lightly.
"Not planned, but I'll never turn down a butterbeer." Lily smiled. James was leaning in close. "James?"
"Lily?"
"Why do your friends call you 'Prongs'?" She laughed softly.
James paused for a moment. Finally, he said, "I don't even remember how it started. Sirius just did it one time in fifth year and it's stuck since."
"Huh." Lily wanted to believe him, but there was something about his answer that even he didn't seem to believe. She decided she would ask him again at another time, when they had been going out longer.
"I've never heard you called any nicknames," James teased. "Care to share?"
"I've just never been a nickname kind of girl," Lily shrugged. "I've always been 'Lily or 'Evans'."
James looked her up and down. "I think 'Lils' suits you."
Lily had always hated nicknames. She found them cheesy and pointless. But every time James called her 'Lils', she felt her heart flutter.
They stayed like this, talking for another hour or so, until the fire had long been out.
A/N: Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this weeks chapter. Next week's chapter will take an unexpected turn, so be sure to keep reading! Please leave a review if you're enjoying the story, and don't forget to follow the story if you want to be notified when I update. See you all next Wednesday!
