EARLY UPDATE! Do the happy dance everyone! I love all of you new followers!

The next few chapters are humongously difficult to write. I have done nearly all the chapter that required a lot of pre-planning. Although there is still one chapter left, I had already planned it out, and decided to give you an early update, since you guys don't deserve torture.

Without further ado, I give you... the best chapter yet.

Must we continue this formality? Very well, I don't want to be sued. I own nothing of Harry Potter.

No One Wants to Grow Up

Lily Evans was having a headache.

She pressed her head on her hands and took deep breaths. There were only two more weeks until Halloween, and they - the marauders and her - had decided that Halloween would be the time to strike. They had a Hogsmeade weekend scheduled on that day that all of them would skip, and they would break into the teacher's archives.

Lily had no idea why she was doing this. Finding out everything about June Leto was one thing. She could do it in other ways. But for some very strange reason she wanted to find out if this girl even had records in the first place, or if people had forgotten all about her.

So they scoured to find everything about the teacher's archives. They searched and searched and searched. They knew that only teacher's were allowed inside. According to some legend, it was guarded by some monster. They didn't think this was probable, but it would be unwise to rule out the possibility. Legends spoke of the chamber of secrets, but Lily highly doubted this one. Teacher's had to be able to enter this room - or was the legend of the chamber of secrets created as a cover up for the teacher's archives?

It was all very confusing. They searched through layers and layers of information trying to decipher legend from fact. There seemed to be an uncommon amount of legends to look through anyway. The teacher's archives, if everything was to be believed, were far from reality, and actually existed on a different plane all together.

"How about a break?" asked James kindly.

James had been her constant companion through the whole search. While Remus was amazing for all this, he covered Lily during prefect duties and such. Peter was to scared to talk to her without other people around, and Sirius was spending too much time alone, doing something or the other. Marlene and Mary weren't exactly in the loop of her crazy scheme, and seemed to be getting bothered about her.

So it fell on James to make sure Lily ate and rested while her manic obsession with this scheme was driving her raving mad.

"Not yet," Lily muttered, her eyes bloodshot.

"You know, I'm starting to think this isn't that much about June." James said thoughtfully.

"Well then, what is it, Potter?" asked Lily playfully.

"I think you want to show us that you can do what none of us ever could." James said, tapping his nose with a finger.

Lily gave it a moment of thought.

"Maybe... you're... a bit right." Lily said meekly.

"I knew it!" James said gleefully. "Anyway, we ought to be going - History of Magic."

"Ugh." Lily said. "Why did I take it again?"

"Because you're a weird girl with an unusual taste in history - no matter how boring the professor," James said, "Now come!"

Lily dragged herself off the library table and James supported her all the way to the class room. They diverted and Lily sat down heavily, while James left the class. Lily was about the only one who took the class with four other kids.

"Halloween was a very powerful time for us wizards during the thirteenth century..." droned professor Binns.

Why didn't he just resign? Thought Lily ungratefully, wanting badly to go to sleep. He was making an amazing subject a bunch of facts.

"The muggles thought it was the time that the veil between life and death was thinnest..."

The veil between life and death is always thinnest in his class, thought Lily, annoyed. It was very off putting, all this muggle nonsense. Everyone knew that the reality was that ghosts enjoyed celebrating the deathday of the renowned ghost Merethin Broker, first of the ghosts, who actually penetrated the veil between life and death.

"It is exciting to know that Halloween was known as All Hallows day during the thirteenth century."

Nothing is ever excit - wait what? Lily thought wildly. Halloween was All Hallows day?

She doubted the eighteenth century was sophisticated enough to call a secret chamber The Teacher's Archives.

Lily ran out of the class. Professor Binns droned without looking at her.

"Am I hearing this correctly Evans? You left class?" Sirius' incredulous voice wasn't helping anything.

"Lily?" asked Remus gently, tapping her shoulder. Lily shook him off, feverishly looking through pages.

"What's wrong with her?" asked James worriedly.

"Nothing, absolutely... no.. I..." Lily murmured fanatically.

"I think Evans has lost it." Sirius said.

"Is everything okay, Lily?" asked Remus.

"It was All Hallows, not Halloween!" Lily yelled, "Not Halloween."

"I'm not sure what she is talking about." Peter interjected quietly.

"Halloween used to be called All Hallows Day during the thirteenth century." Remus supplied.

"How is that relevant?" asked Sirius. Remus shrugged.

"It was All Hallows! Don't you - I just - No! Wait here!" she said loudly, and disappeared between the shelves of the library.

"Is she okay?" asked James as they chased down the shelves after her whipping red hair. There was a positively demented look about her.

She stopped abruptly and pulled out a small rule book from the shelves. She flipped through the pages quickly, muttering like a mad woman, until she found what she was looking for. She gave a triumphant 'Hah!' and banged the book on the table, pointing at a particular line on a particular page.

"What does she want?" asked Sirius, a little scared.

Remus picked the book up and read the title out, "Prefects Who Gained Power."

"Blimey, why're you reading that, Evans?" asked James.

Remus shushed him immediately, and read the title of the chapter that Lily had pointed out, "A List of Atrocious Rule Breaking"

Something dawned on all of them.

Remus read the line Lily had indicated, "Malcolm - also known as Malcolm the Explorer by other rule breakers, was suspended for breaking into the Chamber of Silence - A chamber for teachers."

"But Malcolm the Explorer had broken into the - Oh." Sirius said.

"Halloween was known as All Hallows day - the Teacher's archives were known as The Chambers of Silence." Remus finished slowly. And Lily grinned happily, finally achieving what she had gone out to achieve. So happy was she that she had reached her goal, that she fainted with ecstaticness.

"I'll get it." James said dryly, scooping Lily up gently and carrying her away to the Hospital Wing.

James was a bit in shock. "Who knew you would need rule abiding prefects who have read strange small handbooks to break into the most guarded areas of the school?" he asked bemusedly.

"I know, right?" Sirius said, just as shocked. "Goes to show, doesn't it?"

"Yeah..." James dwindled. Sirius disappeared from the hospital wing, while James waited for Lily to gain consciousness.

Remus had left to cover for Lily during prefect duties again, and Peter had said something about a prior commitment. James was left alone to contemplate the impossible amazingness of Lily Evans.

Sirius meanwhile was going towards the west tower again, to meet June. This was where he had been spending his time. He and June never spoke too much, but they had a strange bond. Sirius was quiet around her. He never felt the need to speak - he was calm. Opposite to his usual personality.

"Hello Leto." Sirius said as he entered.

June nodded, and continued with - whatever it was that she was doing.

"Did you know? Evans fainted today. Overwork." Sirius said conversationally.

June immediately looked up, "Wh-What! Wh-why?" she asked.

"Easy, Leto. I told you - over work."

June snapped her books shut. "I-I'm leav-leaving." she said. And swept out of the terrace, leaving Sirius behind to look at the empty mug of coffee.

"Now, who's supposed to cast auguamenti for me?" he asked after her, agitated.

June strode down the hallways, on her way to the hospital wing. She appreciated Sirius being around her - but there was a part of her that always felt a constant fear around her. It was easy for him to say that he was an ally, but she still feared he would fall back into old ways. He had terrified her long enough to justify the feeling. Even if he hadn't, others had done it for him.

June turned a corner and entered the Hospital wing, to find James Potter sitting there, twiddling his thumbs.

"Oh - Hello Leto." James said.

"H-hi." June said slowly. "Wh-what are yo-you do-doing here?" she asked.

"I brought her here." James explained.

"Oh. I-is sh-she ok-okay?" asked June.

James shrugged. "Just fainted."

Madam Pomfrey entered just that moment, and gave them the go to for seeing Lily. She looked pretty okay - with dark circles under her eyes.

"Oh - hello." Lily said, rubbing her eyes. "Where are Marlene and Mary?"

"They don't know you fainted yet, my dear crazy girl. We'll tell them soon enough." James said with a wink.

"Was I that bad?" asked Lily with a grimace.

"You looked like a dementor who had been kissed by another dementor." James informed her.

"Right." she said wryly, "Oh, Hi June! How come you're here?"

"I-I hea-heard yo-you we-were sick." June said meekly.

"Nice of you to stop by." Lily said cheerfully. "I'll spend one night in, then I'll be out. Could you gather the others? I want a meeting," she addressed James. James nodded curtly. They didn't know about June's intense powers of observation of course, or they may have refrained from saying that.

James left the room, and June sat down beside Lily, giving her quiet company as she lay her head back. "Do-do y-you need any-anything?" asked June politely.

"Hmm? Oh no, nothing June. Stay here for sometime if you can. Just until I sleep."

June nodded quickly.

One week had passed since they searched for the chamber of silence. Lily had been unrelenting. Even Sirius had been unable to gt out of it. He hadn't spent time with June in a week.

"Right then team, we all know quiet a bit. It's supposed to be a secret chamber for teachers, the teachers have a special identification charm specific to each of them. We know that this incantation is difficult. What do we need now?" asked Lily.

"For one thing - the location." Sirius said exasperatedly, the evenings wearing down on him. Slamming a book shut, he looked at all of them. "I don't see how we get in if we don't know where it is."

"He has a point. We need to know where the archives are." James said, pulling his glasses off and rubbing them.

"Location..." Lily muttered. She pulled out a book at random and scanned it carefully. Malcolm's acts had resulted in instant filing of his rule breaking... Gerard turned the guardians of the staff room into monkeys - noted in records immediately... Cathy wrecked the trophy room... this was taken down at once...

At once.

"I got it!" Lily said, slapping her forehead. All four of them looked up from their respective books. "The teacher's archives aren't accessed until the end of the year - unless something big happens. Then it is filed at once."

"So?" asked Remus.

"So, now it is your element. You four have to pull of a prank big enough to get it filed at once. I'll shadow McGonagal. Don't get too many detentions though."

There was a moment of silence.

"Evans?" Sirius said.

"Yes, Black?"

"Why on earth have we not used you for our pranks?" he asked gravely.

Lily's face broke into an uncharacteristic grin, "You're stupider than you think, Black. That's why."

"It seems I am." Sirius said, conceding to the point.

There was a moment where everyone fell into a catatonic state at Sirius' words.

"No time for that fellows," Sirius said. "We have a prank to plan."

"Piece of cake." Lily panted as she reached the room behind the Gregorian tapestry.

"Got the information?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah."

After the eighth floor corridor had successfully been turned into a bunch of frogs, Lily had shadowed McGonagal. Thankfully the others had only received a week's worth of detention - ending on Halloween. It was almost too convenient.

McGonagal had emerged from Dumbledore's office clutching a file to her chest as she went off to deliver it. On the way she had bumped into professor Slughorn.

"Oh hello Horace." McGonagal had said graciously.

"Hello Minerva. Off to put that where it belongs?" asked professor Slughorn.

"Actually I was going to keep the copy in Pringle's detention record room first. Would you mind keeping this one where it belongs?" Minerva said in clipped tones.

"No problem. Keep it on this pile of books. Yes. That's it."

After McGonagal had left Lily had emerged from the hiding place - Slughorn loved her. There was no way he wouldn't eat any story out of her hand.

"Lily my dear! What are you doing here?" asked Slughorn.

"Oh hello professor. I was just spending some time alone, actually. Do you need help with those books?" she asked gently.

Now the professor knew that no one was supposed to know where the teacher's archives were - but he was also to luxury inclined to actually pick the books up and take them all the way - wherever it was. Lily knew this perfectly, and exploited the situation immediately.

She had been taken to the west tower - as earlier pointed out - a very abandoned tower. There, Slughorn had disappeared into the depths of the tower itself, and Lily followed him quietly. She watched him reach a lit hallway and meet a blind stone dragon. How did she know it was blind? The sign on it's pedestal said 'The Blind Dragon - Gorethel March.' That and that fact that the dragon statue showed it's eyes leaking blood.

The dragon had come to life when Slughorn had said Animatum, narrated Lily, and had sniffed him carefully, to let him through. She had also heard him perform his unique incantation, which Lily had committed to memory, by noting down the exact tone of voice which Slughorn went through.

"So what you are saying is - we are going to the teacher's archives?" James said slowly as she finished.

Lily nodded.

A horribly tense moment followed, where Lily could sense the excitement in the room.

"Gentlemen," she said, bowing, "At ease."

Another moment of silence was followed by intense yelling and happiness, where James, Sirius and Peter started marching around the room, singing the school song loudly, while Remus grinned - happy and flushed. He smiled in a mellow sort of way and said, "God hope we pull this off. It will be almost funny to see their reactions if we don't.

Lily shook her head bemusedly. "Clearly No One Wants to Grow Up around here."

That was the most difficult thing I ever wrote. No seriously. I mean. Whew. So tired.
I'll be posting the next two chapters together. They're the kind of chapters which are dull and boring but you have to put them in somewhere. So, the next two chapters are 'Disappearing Within' and 'Acquiring the Power of Accusation.' I'll hopefully post them by Tuesday or so.

And preview for the first person who gets the reference to Percy.