Thanks to those who have reviewed lately!

Ryeflight – sorry that the marauder's haven't made themselves known to Vernon and Petunia yet but I promise you they will eventually

AshJaz – thanks for joining the story. As for your comments

James knows that telling on Snape isn't going to change anything. I know that might not make sense but as if see it all those Slytherin boys/girls had been involved and Dumbledore knows he can't expel everyone, especially because of who there parents are. I understand that your view is also right, but James does think he's protecting people by not telling

I reckon the girls are used to the boys antics honestly

Her parents were shocked at Petunia's comment

Soccerdiva – you're the best, I'm glad you're still enjoying it! Yeah, I'll get around to fixing James' Dad's name soon.

JAMES POV

"This feels like a bad idea," James said wearily as he watched Sirius unfold his invisibility cloak. "Maybe we should just give it a rest for tonight."

Sirius gave James a stink eye. "Don't worry lover boy," he said. "I just want to check where Dumbledore and McGonagall have vanished to."

Reluctantly, James let Sirius throw the cloak over them, mindlessly hoping that they wouldn't be out here for too long. "I would rather just enjoy the ball."

"I don't mind going by myself," Sirius hissed. He looked ready to storm off. "Go back to Evans if she means that much to you."

"It's not just Lily," James said defensively.

Sirius tapped his wand against the map, muttering the password. He didn't bother replying, his expression blank.

"There," James said, pointing at a third floor corridor. Despite his guilt and annoyance at having to leave Lily, he couldn't help the curiosity that flooded through him. He still had his suspicions about Snape and his crew of Slytherins, and had a feeling that their recent actions and the weird behaviour from their teachers might be connected somehow.

Sirius seemed to notice the excitement in James tone as he grinned wickedly, tucking the map into his back pocket. "Looks like they were heading towards the armoury."

ALICE POV

Alice slipt her hand into Frank's and pulled him onto the dance floor, laughing. She'd seen Lily with Remus – both smiling – but something in their postures looked off. As if they were trying to force themselves into looking happy. Frank complied, even squeezing her hand.

The novelty of having a boyfriend still hadn't worn off, but in the past week she'd become a lot more comfortable around him. He'd become someone she wanted to confide in – someone whom she wanted to know all her thoughts and secrets. Which felt entirely weird for Alice. She'd always been the quieter; more reserved one in her group of friends – usually listening instead of talking.

"Hey Alice," Lily said as the couple approached. She smiled at Frank. "Hey Frank. Having a good night?"

Frank nodded. "Thanks to you," he murmured. "Alice has been telling me about all the effort you put in."

Usually Alice would've smiled sarcastically at cheesy comments like that but she'd just noticed how pale and sad Remus looked. Then she realised that Lily was dancing with Remus – not James – which probably meant James and Sirius were somewhere together. And since Marlene had been avoiding Sirius more than usual lately, she assumed that Marlene wasn't with them. The situation felt very clearly off.

" – band wasn't my choice though," Lily was saying to a chuckling Frank. "Helga Shay suggested them, and well they were available."

"I knew you were lying when you'd said you loved this song," Remus said teasingly. Even though Alice didn't know Remus as well as the others, she couldn't have missed the blankness in his tone.

Even Frank sobered up from his smiling at bit. As if sensing the sudden awkwardness Lily quickly suggested they go grab a drink. Nodding a little too eagerly, Alice let Lily sweep her towards the drinks station.

"What's going on?" Alice whispered to her friend. She didn't want to risk glancing at Remus, but she could feel the two boys hovering behind them, hopefully just of out earshot.

Lily's face darkened a little. "Marlene," she said angrily.

"What?" Alice whispered, growing shocked. Marlene had a temper and she had strong opinions, but she wasn't usually outright mean or rude.

"I think I hate her right now," Lily muttered.

Alice wasn't sure what Marlene could've possible done to make Lily so mad, but they'd reached the drink table so she held back from asking. She poured them all a glass of punch, sniffing at hers suspiciously.

"Apparently there's fire whiskey in this," she said.

Lily eyed Remus. "Know anything about this?"

To both Lily and Alice's surprise, Remus seemed to grow offended at the idea. "Of course not," he said crabbily. He must've noticed the girl's expression since his face softened a little, something like guilt brushing his features. "You know I think I might go back to bed." He placed his cup down.

"You sure –"

"It's fine Lily," he said, pressing something into his words that seemed to reassure Lily slightly. "Promise. Night girls. See you round Frank."

Frank smiled. "See you mate." Once Remus was out of earshot he turned to Alice, a small frown between his brows. "That was weird."

"You don't think he's in a fight with James and Sirius, do you?" Alice asked. "I can't imagine what over."

Lily blinked slowly, as if she was starting to realise something. "Well…" she started, hesitant.

"You reckon this has got to do with their sudden disappearance?" Frank said. "Because I was wondering about that too."

"You saw them leave?" Lily asked.

Frank kind of shrugged. "I was with Sirius and Remus before," he explained. "Remus was telling us some story, and at first I thought Sirius was just being rude, I guess. I mean, he didn't seem very interested and was constantly glancing over at the teachers. Then he just interrupted Remus randomly, declaring he had to find James. At the time I was a little pissed at him, but now – looking back – I don't think he realised how rude he'd appeared."

"The teachers?" Lily muttered, rubbing her temple. "Why would he care about – hang on, what where the teachers doing."

Frank shrugged. "Chatting, watching us – I dunno, Sirius was the one super stalking them."

"Stalking?" Lily rambled, her eyes glazing over a little.

Alice knocked shoulders with her friend. "You know your glazing again," she told her. "Vaguely repeating our words doesn't make any sense to us you realise?"

"Sorry," Lily said. "It's just… weird. I can't make heads and tails of this night."

"How dramatic," Alice said sarcastically.

"You don't think they're up to something," Lily said. "Something against the rules, I mean."

Frank snorted, rubbing his temple. "I'd be more surprised if they were following the rules."

"But James has been so much better this term," Alice said worryingly. "They haven't pranked anyone, well aside from Snape…"

Lily let out a groan of frustration. "I seriously don't understand him sometimes," she said. "I mean first he has this theory of Dumbledore wanting us to keep an eye on the Slytherins during patrols because of everything that's happening outside Hogwarts and now he's off stalking teachers."

"Do you reckon that's why Remus is in a fight with them?" Frank suggested.

"What?" Lily said, more confused. Then her face smoothed over, and a careful expression softened her brows. "Oh – no, no I doubt that's the reason. Come on – let's go back and dance."

JAMES POV

James scanned the map one last time before tucking it into his pocket. Dumbledore and McGonagall we're inside the armoury but the door was closed, meaning they had no way to get inside without drawing attention to the fact that doors couldn't open themselves.

"We should wait," Sirius said.

James couldn't disagree more. Their two professors could take hours, and by then the ball would be surely over. Then again, if Sirius were right about this Ancient Runes professor, they probably wouldn't want to draw attention to their sudden disappearance by vanishing for hours. He was starting to understand why his Dad said he was to young to understand some things – this whole war situation was confusing.

"If they're talking about some secret society it won't be when they leave the armoury dickhead," James said.

"Go then," Sirius snapped. "If I'm going to sit here for hours I'd rather do it without the – what the hell?"

James spun on his toes, peering down the corridor behind them. Coming towards them, shrouded in darkness, was Remus. For a moment James forgot they were invisible and went to wave.

"Seriously?" Sirius muttered. "Just keep quiet."

"This is mental," James hissed back. "Lets just tell him."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Finally," he said. "The wisest thing you've said all night."

James pulled the cloak off of them as Remus nears. It was a sign of how distracted Remus is – and not to mention how used he is to the boys antics – since he flinched as his two friends appear out of now where.

"Hey Moony," Sirius grinned.

James eyed his friend nervously. "What's happened?" He asked. "Why aren't you at the ball?"

"Funny – I could've asked you two the same question," Remus snapped.

"If you want to know you have to come under the cloak," Sirius said. "Like now."

It was then that James noticed the door handle creak, and the familiar voice of Dumbledore echoed through the wood. Without thinking, he flung the cloak over his two friends whilst Sirius ushered Remus to shut up. Remus rolled his eyes, obviously having connected the dots. Sirius and James had been stalking someone, but he hadn't expected that someone to be a pale faced McGonagall and a usually stern looking Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's eyes scanned the corridor, pausing for a moment too long on the three invisible boys. James stared back, wondering – not for the first time – if Dumbledore had super strength hearing and could hear James' heart banging in his chest. They watched, barely daring to breath, as their two professors vanished down the corridor.

Sirius was the first to sign a breath of relief.

"You've gone super stalker mode on the teachers?" Remus said sceptically. "And your first thought was to not tell me?"

"You and everyone else," Sirius said honestly.

"Well now I feel flattered," Remus said dryly.

"Well we knew you wouldn't agree with it," James started, before realising that explaining was only making things worse.

"So are you running after every teacher or is it only those two?" Remus asked. James was surprised to hear the bemused tone in his friend's voice, and wondered if maybe he'd cracked. His tone sounded too light.

"Sprout and Slughorn too," James said cautiously. "They're usually off a weird hours in weird locations."

"So have you heard anything interesting?" Remus said.

James suddenly recognised the tone and stiffened a little. Remus was mocking them. He knew damn well the two boys hadn't over heard anything worthwhile, and James had a sinking feeling he knew they wouldn't. It was silly thinking they'd overheard anything interesting – especially since it was Dumbledore they were trying to spy on.

Sirius clearly hadn't picked up on the tone. "Well not so –"

"That's not the point," James said defensively. "It's the fact that they're having these conversations around the castle – and quite regularly too. I mean, if they were discussing just how badly Padfoot was flunking his Potions they'd do that in the staffroom."

"Hey!" Sirius said. "I'm not flunking. I'm trying to prove a point to Evans."

"What that you can actually get a troll on your NEWTS?" Remus said. The mocking tone had vanished a little.

"Well yeah actually," Sirius said.

"But don't you want to be an Aurur?" Remus asked.

"Of course," Sirius scoffed. "I can't wait for the day when I start putting family member behind bars."

"You do realise you need at least an E in Potions to become an Aurur, right?" Remus said.

"Oh," Sirius said. Then he slapped himself over the head. "Goddammit it Evans."

James burst into laughter at the look of annoyance on Sirius face. After a few uncertain seconds, Remus joined in. He didn't fully understand why his two best friends hadn't told him about the teacher-stalking thing, but at least they'd based the decision on not wanting to put him in a conflicting position. Which was a completely bizarre, and unhealthy way of looking at it, but after all that had happened tonight he was glad to have James and Sirius back.

"This has been such a sucky night," Sirius complained.

"Come on," James said, grinning devilishly. "We have an after party to plan."

Sirius slapped his friend over the shoulder. "Finally," he exclaimed. "I was beginning to worry that Evans had changed you forever."

LILY POV

Lily couldn't help but roll her eyes at the sight of the Gryffindor common room.

"So this is why you disappeared so suddenly?" Lily said to James.

James shifted on his feet. "Well not exactly," he started, but suddenly Sirius was behind him and Alice was tugging at Lily's arm, urging the couple to join them on the dance floor.

Lily giggled. "Its about time we fit a dance in Potter," she said, offering him her hand.

James looked at her, his eyes golden in the light. Lily felt momentarily speechless in that moment, her next remark lost. She let herself be wrapped up into James' arm as he spun them studiedly around the common room. A few younger students giggled as they passed, someone even wolf whistled – although Lily was positive that that was from Sirius.

"So what did you mean by not exactly?" Lily said.

"What?" James replied. Lily had the feeling he was trying to stall her, although she couldn't imagine why.

"You said not exactly before," she elaborated. "When I asked you if this was why you'd vanished at the ball."

"Oh," James said. He looked away from her, hiding his eyes.

"James?" She said nervously. He looked flustered, his hands suddenly shaky on her hips. "Is everything okay?"

"Okay?" James repeated, sounding baffled – which only baffled Lily further.

"Yeah," Lily said.

"Uh yeah everything is fine?" James said. His words sounded like a question.

Lily wasn't sure why but she was suddenly filled with anger. The room seemed to blur a little, as if it was only them in the common room. She wanted to know where James and Sirius were when their friend was verbally attacking Remus. She wanted to understand why there were such prejudices against werewolves. And since she was being so honest with herself, she wanted confirmation on who had attacked James that night. If he just admitted that it was Snape, than Dumbledore would probably expel him.

"Uh Lily?" James said. He tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

Lily pushed away from him. "You're hiding something from me Potter," she hissed, instinctively reverting back to his last name.

James' eyes widened. He stumbled backwards a little bit, putting even more space between them. They'd danced themselves into a corner, and the music and talking and dancing seemed distant.

"Do you even know what happened between Remus and Marlene?" Lily snapped.

James' confused expression only added wood to her bonfire of fury. "He didn't say," James fumbled. "He didn't mention her."

"Are you and Black in a fight with him? Is that why you left the ball without him?"

"What? No!" James yelped. His stance sharpened a little, and some of his usual confidence seemed to return. "Padfoot and I have been doing something lately, and we didn't tell him. He caught on pretty quickly and got a bit shitty but we're fine."

"What didn't you tell him?" Lily said sceptically.

"We've been following McGonagall and Dumbledore around the castle," James admitted, lowering his voice. "Padfoot reckons they're forming something – a secret group maybe. And I'm starting to think he's right."

"A secret group for what?" Lily said.

"A group to fight against Voldemort," James replied.

Lily blinked, suddenly unsure. It seemed unwise, impractical even, to form a defensive group against Voldemort inside a school.

"Okay," she said a little unevenly.

"Okay?" James repeated incredulously. "Okay Lily? If a group is forming that must mean it's worsening out there, and that the Ministry is acting even more oblivious."

"Well do you have proof?" Lily countered.

"No," James said honestly. "But they've meeting almost every night – Sprout and Slughorn as well."

"Yes and just like that one night you just happened to know that Sirius was up in the astronomy tower," Lily said coolly. "You also happen to constantly know the teachers whereabouts?"

"Uh – we've been following them Lily," James said. He sounded nervous.

"Sure," Lily said, she hadn't meant for the word to come out cold but now that it was out she let the anger follow. She knew James had secrets – she wasn't stupid – and after catching each of their Patronus' in class she figured their nicknames had a bigger meaning. "Look James – I'm not trying to blow up at you –"

"Yeah we'll you sure sound like you are," James moodily interrupted.

Lily scowled at him. "You're not helping the case," she snapped. "Listen – you're stalking the teachers, whatever. I'm not pleased about it exactly because I'm sure it means you're breaking more school rules but for now –"

"You'll let it slide?" James said hopefully.

"Will you stop interrupting?" Lily huffed. She sucked in a deep breath, steadying herself. "I just want the truth, okay?"

"The truth," James breathed. He glanced around the common room, looking nervous. "Like what kind of truth."

"I just want you to tell me things," Lily continued. She had a feeling James wasn't fully connecting with what she was trying to imply, but she wasn't going to out right force the truth from him.

"Okay," James said, rubbing his chin. "Wait – hang on. Are we having one of those conversations?"

"If by that you mean conversations that don't involve lying then yes."

"No – well I mean yes, of course. But like you're trying to imply something aren't you?" James said. "If you want me to tell you something you can just ask. I'll answer truthfully, promise."

Lily shook her head. "I don't want to force you James," she said.

"But –"

"No," Lily said, holding up her hand. "Just –"

"What do you want to hear?" James finally snapped. "That in second year I single handily lost Gryffindor 150 house points? That Sirius and I used our brooms to fly into your dorm in third year to prank you and Marley? That in fifth year Peter and I convinced the house elves to serve desert for breakfast? That it was Snape that attacked me?"

Lily shook her head sadly. "I already knew those things James."

"Even the Snape one?" James said.

Lily nodded. "We all assumed you wouldn't tell because you we're trying to protect me."

Lily couldn't believe it but James actually scoffed. "That's not the reason," James retorted. He caught her expression and winced a little. "I –sorry that came out harsh. I just meant I hadn't told anyone because I knew Dumbledore wouldn't do anything about it, and it'd probably just make them more angry. I don't want to give Snape the satisfaction."

"The satisfaction! Snape almost killed you James," Lily said incredulously. "And what do you mean wouldn't."

"Couldn't, whatever," James said. "He can't expel all those Slytherins. Imagine the hell their parents would unleash. And besides, here at Hogwarts Dumbledore can monitor them. If they're out there they could do worse than just attacking me."

Lily couldn't believe her ears. "You're really nuts, you know?"

James laughed. "So you finally got all of that off your chest?"

Lily punched him lightly in the chest. "Watch it," she told him. "You're still on thin ice."

"Come on." James wound his hand into hers. "We're missing out on the good music."

THANKS FOR READING! ONE MORE CHAPTER FOR THE HOLIDAYS THEN ITS BACK TO SCHOOL TIME – REVIEW IF YOU WANT ME TO INCLUDE ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR AND I'LL TRY AND FIT IT IN!