The next morning, Lily and James woke up on the couch in their personal common room. James looked at the clock and saw that it was already 8:00.

"Lily, get up, we're nearly late already!", he yelled

Both of them were still in their robes, so they ran out of the common room like they'd been fired from the world's strongest wand. James ran to the kitchens and Lily went to the Great Hall to meet the others. James tickled the pear in the portrait and fell into the kitchen. He told the house elves what he, the Marauders, and Lily's friends had agreed on the night before, Pancakes and toast with eggs and bacon. He then grabbed a biscuit on his way out and sprinted as fast as he could to the Great Hall.

When James arrived, the other Marauders hadn't arrived yet, so he took a second to catch his breath. He walked over to the nearest bathroom and nearly threw up from the running.

Back in the Great Hall, Lily was talking with her three friends.

"How are the bedrooms in your common room"

"We wouldn't know", muttered Lily

Unfortunately, Marlene heard her, "Wait what?"

"Nothing", said Lily quickly

"Tell us", said all three of them

"Fine, we just didn't sleep in our beds last night"

"Meaning you slept where?"

"On the couch"

"Is that all?"

"Together. There, you happy?"

The other three girls burst into laughter instantly, earning many strange looks from everyone else. A that moment, James and the Marauders walked in.

"What's so funny?", asked Sirius

"Nothing", said Mary

James sat next to Lily and squeezed her hand.

"What's for breakfast?", asked Lily

"Bacon, eggs, toast, and pancakes", answered James

The food appeared on the tables and they dug in as McGonagall went around handing out schedules and the owls delivered the morning mail. James's owl dived in front of them and nearly hit Peter's head. It dropped four letters to James, Sirius, and Remus and hovered around, hoping for treats. James, Sirius, and Remus caught their letters. James fed his owl a few owl treats from his pocket.

Dear James,

I hope you're first two days of school have gone well. Dumbledore told us about your job with the Order. Be careful son, the Death Eaters have ways of getting information. The package that is arriving in a minute contains two more Invisibility Cloaks for Remus and Sirius. The new cloaks are slightly less powerful and will sometimes need an Invisibility Charm to keep them invisible if they are used too much.

Love,

Mum and Dad

Sirius and Remus seemed to have gotten similar letters, because they looked up, waiting for the package with their faces looking serious. Lily looked at them with a questioning look. James gave her his letter and understanding dawned on her face.

"Invisibility Cloak?"

"Yeah, I have one"

Suddenly, a large package carried by 10 barn owls dropped in front of James, who managed to catch it. He opened it and found two Invisibility Cloaks in it. He gave one to Remus and the other to Sirius. They quickly shoved the cloaks in their bags before anyone could see what they were. McGonagall dropped their schedules in front of them. James, Sirius, and Remus were taking 7 N.E.W.T.s, Lily, Alice, Marlene, and Mary were taking 5, and Peter was taking 3. They all ran off to first period DADA.

In DADA, the eight of them and Snape were the only ones that showed up, though they knew about 20 people were taking it. Professor Greengrass started teaching them how to conjure a Patronus. The Marauders and Lily easily conjured a Patronus, a stag, a doe, a wolf, a dog, and a rat flying across the room and back to their casters. The professor moved them on to Fiendfyre, which Lily got stuck on, but the Marauders were able to conjure cursed fire. The professor allowed them to do whatever they wanted as he helped the others with their spell casting.

The Marauders pulled out the map and started updating it with other places they'd discovered as well as adding a component that insulted anyone who tried to read it that didn't know the password.

After class, Lily lagged behind. Snape was waiting for her at the door, where he Body-Binded her and brought her to a random classroom. Little did he know that the Marauders were testing the new cloaks in the room.

Snape pushed Lily against the wall and cast a Locking Charm on the door. "Listen to me Lily, don't trust them. They will get you killed. The Dark Lord is after them. If you're with them, you'll die too"

"Leave her alone", came four voices, echoing around the room.

Snape turned around and saw the Marauders with their wands turned on him.

"Leave Snape", said Potter

Snape knew he was outnumbered and ran out, but not before casting a spell on Lily.

Lily walked over to James, but suddenly felt a wave of nausea. She collapsed and blacked out.