Author's Ramblings: Boy am I a moron. I went back to look at my chapter two, and I noticed that when I was rambling at the bottom, I said 1997. So I'll make the correction now: it was supposed to be 1977. Good? Now I feel semi-better.

About the Chapter: So where I left off in the previous chapter, Lily wasn't aware that three of the marauders were staying and they didn't know that she was staying either. Once again "…" will be used to flip from scene-to-scene. I think this is the last time they'll be used in a while.

Stupid Tidbit: This is the italics chapter, for some reason. So many italics… so much emphasis.

Favor: Please be a dear and leave a review at the end!

Chapter Three: Seeing Shadows

"Finally," Lily whispered the next morning. For once there was no screaming over the bathroom, no panics about lost eyeliner, no slaps for being woken up early, no drama. Finally.

Lily strode over to the window and pulled open the curtains, smiling at the view. She opened the window and leaned out, letting the wind play with her hair. Hogwarts was hers and only hers. This was the life.

…

"Do you think they'll still make us breakfast like during the year?" Sirius asked, slightly panicked.

"Of course," Remus said, pulling on his jumper. "They have to… that'd be, like, child abuse if they didn't."

"Can house elves abuse children?" he asked.

"No, Sirius," Remus said. "But I can if you don't shut up."

Sirius shut up.

"Isn't this cool?" James asked, pulling open the curtains of his window and looking down at the grounds. "This is all ours."

"It's always ours, Prongs," Sirius said, scratching his bum.

"Please remove your hand from that area, Sirius," Remus begged, shielding his eyes.

Sirius continued to scratch.

James sighed as he opened the window.

"This is great," he said, leaning out to look below him. He looked around, happy to still be at Hogwarts. To his left, up, down and to his right, back to his left.

He did a double-take, then whipped his head back into the dorm.

"Oh Merlin, I think I'm dreaming," he mumbled.

"And why's that, Prongs?" Sirius asked, joining James by the window.

"I think I just saw Evans."

…

Lily pulled her head back in the window and counted to three.

She was dreaming.

Dreaming, dreaming, dreaming.

Please be dreaming.

It wasn't James Potter, surely it wasn't. If James (and his fellow bum boys, Lily thought sourly) was staying at Hogwarts, Dumbledore would have told her. Of course he would.

She was just seeing her shadow in the glass or something. Yes, it was just her shadow.

…

"No way!" Sirius exclaimed, poking his head out the window and nearly toppling out.

After a moment or two he withdrew his head. "Yep, Prongs, you're dreaming… I don't see anyone there."

"Really?" James asked weakly. He'd let his hopes get up.

"Truly."

James sighed. "Yeah, okay… it was probably just my imagination or something… or my shadow or whatever."

"I'm sure that's what it was. Evans wouldn't be here."

"Yeah…"

…

Lily stretched, took her shower, got ready, talked to the house elves, got some breakfast, wandered the halls to see if any of the professors were there, talked to some of the portraits, fed toast to the giant squid and found her feet leading her to the library.

She had always liked the Hogwarts library. It was like all of the universities' in muggle London. But it was better. It had every document ever recorded (that was "appropriate") that had to deal with witches and wizards alike. It had all the Daily Prophets from the day Hogwarts was founded. Some shelves were dusty, due to lack of curiosity from the students. Some shelves were perfectly waxed from always being touched. There was, of course, the Quidditch section, which never had a single book in; they were always checked out by a member of one of the four teams. There was the Charms section, her favorite, which always proved interesting. There was the extra study area, one she knew to hold certain Dark Arts books that no one – except few of the Slytherins – had ever touched. Then, of course, there was the snogging section.

No one actually knew how the students got away with it, what with Madam Pince always on the loose, ready to curse a student senseless if they so much as wiped a bogey on the inside of the books cover. But the snogging shelf was popular. James Potter and his cronies (James and Sirius in particular) were usually always reported to have had a girl by that shelf; for some reason the rumors on Potter had stopped. Some say he's stopped coming. Lily didn't believe it too much.

Rumor also said that someone had put a permanent sticking charm on a quill (much like the one of a certain Rita Skeeter's) and bewitched it to record the names of each couple that came back to the snogging shelf and make note of which bases the students reached. It was a wicked little quill that always produced many suspicious looks from students to the recent guilty couple. Once again, the students believed it to be the work of James Potter and his cronies. Thought it'd be funny to hear what other students got up to – or into.

But Lily wasn't in the library to investigate the snogging shelf. She wasn't there to check out a Quidditch book for the first time in her life. No, she was there for the dusty shelves. The one that never got looked at. She was going to mosey around and read the things that she hadn't read before. She was there to look at the shelf that the marauders were inseparable from for their first four years. She was there to read up on the secrets of Hogwarts.

…

"Can we do something?"

"We're already doing something."

"Well… do something prank-wise."

"We always can, I just don't see what the point is right now. There's no one to play the pranks on… and if it's a big enough prank Dumbledore will have flat out proof that it was us, seeing as we're the only damn students here," Remus said wisely, jumping the trick step.

"Bugger," Sirius mumbled. "Then how are we going to have fun this summer?"

"We can look at the library," Remus suggested, glowing at the idea of so many books all to himself.

"No," Sirius and James said together. "We're not doing nerd-like things."

"Reading isn't nerd-like," Remus protested.

"Oh yes it is," James said, turning the corner. "It totally is."

The trio walked in silence for couple minutes, heading towards the Room of Requirement.

"When's full moon?" Sirius asked.

"A week and a half," Remus said with a grumble.

"Oh… we should have some fun soon, then."

Remus threw a nasty look at Sirius.

"Speak for yourself," he growled.

"Oh, sorry, Moony," Sirius apologized.

The group continued to walk in silence.

"So what are we going to the Room of Requirement for, again, Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"We're looking for something," James said.

"And what something might that be?"

"I want to see if Evans really is here."

"And how do we find that out?"

"I don't know… crystal ball? We just have to look for – need – something that can help us find out if she's here or not."

"I still don't get it… Moony, is there anything that does that?"

"No," Remus said. "James, I really don't think you'll have any luck… I've read a bunch of books on wizardry inventions and I haven't seen a single thing about tracking someone. Oh Merlin," he said after a moment. "You're stalking her… again."

"Last time she was aware that I was following her! And I refuse to be given the title of 'stalker,' so kindly do not say that. And I'm not stalking her, I'm trying to find out if she's here at Hogwarts or not!"

"Then why don't we just look around?" Remus protested, not liking the idea of stalking his friend.

"Hogwarts is huge, Moony!" James said, spinning around to face his friend. "There are way too many places to look! Where could she possibly be?"

Remus grinned.

"The library?"

James and Sirius pouted as Remus wore a triumphant smile. They all knew he was right.

"Fine," he grumbled.

The three turned on their heals and towards the opposite direction, started heading to the library.

…

The ceiling was high. Really high. Looking up, it was the height of three-story building. And this was the back section that no kid ever ventured… the only area with "Secrets about Hogwarts" whispering in the dust.

Lily had looked at the shelves that were at eye-level but not a single one looked interesting. They were just her simple books, the ones about Hogwarts tradition, none about the secrets. So she stepped on the ladder and walked up three steps. She reached out and picked up a book and found, to her disgust, that the following nine steps would be just like the one she was holding, which was all about the founders and why they formed Hogwarts. Which was a pretty stupid thing to write a book about, seeing as the Sorting Hat sung the story every year. But whatever.

So she was already up twelve steps, the near equivalent of one whole story. Lily didn't fear heights all that much but she was considering it every time she looked down. She took another two steps and reached out, once again praying that this would be the shelf with secrets. She glanced at the title, The Founders and Me, knowing she shouldn't even bother to touch the book. She continued her climb, until she was almost two stories up (the thought scared her to death). The search was worth it when she saw the title, Passages Only Known to Troublemakers – Hogwarts Secrets Unveiled. She grinned at the idea and pulled the book. She knew she'd hit herself moments later, but nonetheless took the book and dropped it, letting it fall to the ground.

It hit the tile with an echoing thud and the covers opened, leaving the pages slightly bent. Dust flew up at her as it made its way out of the pages. She coughed, unable to believe that these books really hadn't been touched in that long. She shamed herself silently, disgracing herself for dropping a book.

Lily looked up at the many shelves left. How the marauders did this, she honestly didn't know.

…

As the marauders approached they heard an echoing thud in the library's walls.

"Peeves must get up to trouble over the summer too," Sirius observed, opening the door to the library.

"Of course he does," Remus said, pushing past Sirius and breathing in the friendly smell of books.

"Lets get to work. We're looking for Evans," James said, poking his head down one row of books.

"I forgot how huge this thing was," Sirius said, looking up at the many shelves.

"It's pretty obvious that you'd forget, Sirius," Remus sniffed. "Seeing as you stopped coming at the end of fourth year."

"Well, we'd checked out every book necessary and bought the rest of them. Why would we come back to the library? We'd gotten the animagi thing down."

"So? The books don't like to be forgotten… they're like a girlfriend. Stop visiting and they'll start to hate you."

"Oh… so that explains the hate mail I got last year," Sirius said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Evans," James repeated.

"Right-o, Prongs," Sirius said. He turned away from Remus and began to look up and down the dusty shelves.

"Why don't we just call her?" Remus asked.

"Because… if she's on a ladder and she hears our voices, she'll, like, freak out and fall… we can't hurt my future wife," James said, heading towards the charms section.

"Sure," said Sirius. "We'll just walk up behind her while she's on the ladder and scare her to death. That's completely different from calling her name."

…

After Lily dropped Passages Only Known to Troublemakers – Hogwarts Secrets Unveiled to the ground, she looked up at the many towering stacks of books and found it hopeless. She'd read the book she'd found and if it wasn't good enough (it was the size of a small encyclopedia – it should be) she'd return to the aisle and continue her search. She'd made her way down the ladder smoothly, picked up the book and made her way towards the south exit of the library. She was walking out just as she'd heard the north entrance open.

It was probably Madam Pince coming to check on the books. No one else was in the castle, after all.

…

"I don't see her, James!" Sirius called from the opposite end of the library.

James and Sirius were standing by the exit, waiting for James as he trudged towards them, looking upset and depressed.

"Aw, c'mon, Prongs, cheer up," Sirius said, patting him on the back. "You didn't really think Evans would be here, did you?"

James mumbled something like "yes."

"Well… you could owl her if you like… just please don't make us go searching for her."

James glared at his friend but nodded his head nonetheless.

"Great," Sirius said, clapping his hands. "Cause I feel in the mood for an outing."

…

There wasn't all that much in the book. All it was was a stupid monologue about a trouble-maker's seven years at Hogwarts and one secret passage that they'd found. That didn't really go anywhere.

The secret passage was behind a mirror on the fourth floor. If you followed it, the book said, it would come out to a door in a dark alley a block away from Madam Pudifoots. It didn't seem all that dangerous, seeing as the stupid bloke that wrote it was still alive after many of these trips to write the book.

Evening was fast approaching and the clock was about to chime five. Lily wanted to take the passage and actually see if it did come out by Madam Puddifoots, but she was going to wait a bit so she could get her cloak and wand and prepare herself. It was slightly disturbing, going the passage. Seeing as the first thought that came to her mind after deciding to go was a ghostly echo of, "You're a marauder now."

…

Five thirty approached and Lily was at the mirror on the fourth floor. It was stupid to say that she was nervous but she'd never been bad or rebellious or marauder-like at any time in her life. This was a rather big emotional step for her. In the back of her mind she was hoping that some counselor would just pop out of the sky and tell her what to do… and they could do counselor stuff and counsel her and help her.

But no such luck, seeing as Hogwarts didn't have counselors. Apparently, if you had a problem, you were supposed to go to one of your professors and trust them with your secrets. They'd help you, of course, but by lunch the next day it'd be news to all the other professors – Dumbledore too – after being discussed multiple times in the staff room.

Poor Stacy Adams learned that lesson after she went to Sprout for advice about her boyfriend. Apparently he was a bit pushy and she wanted the bases as well, but she wasn't sure of what to do. She was brought into discussion with Dumbledore and after much blushing on her part and odd coughs on Dumbledore's she was free to leave. But, naturally, all the professors knew about it and stared at her and her boyfriend whenever they walked past, holding hands. Stacy would immediately drop his hand and look away. Poor boy never really knew what happened.

With no counselor near, Lily was left to her own resources. So she pushed the mirror aside and made her way into a small hallway.

There was no where to go.

It was a complete dead end.

She walked forward, wondering if there was maybe a left or right turn to take. But one step to far landed in:

Thump. Thud.

"Ow!"

Bonk. Thump.

"Owwwww!"

Thud. Crash.

"Sodding hell!"

Thump. Thud.

"Oh… my bum…"

Stairs.

Lily stood up and straightened her robes, rubbing her bottom and cringing in pain. She looked around and found that the only way to continue along the passage was to turn left. So she did. She walked twelve steps and hung a right. The path never seemed to end. She continued walking forward for another ten minutes before another pair of footsteps joined her own. She stopped. She heard the odd clip clop sound of steps. Three sets of feet. Her heart was pounding so hard she wouldn't be at all surprised if the roof collapsed on her, her beats shaking the rock. But her heart rate slowed a bit when she heard the walking stop. It was "safe" again.

She continued to walk – with a bit more vigor – until she met another left. She took it.

Until she heard running behind her.

"Get back here you no good toe-clipping!" a voice hollered.

Two pairs of running feet. Towards her.

"Give me back my wand!" the voice yelled.

"You never had a wand, Prongs, you Nancy-boy!" another voice yelled.

"I'll have you know I've got a bigger one!" the first voice screamed proudly.

Lily stopped dead in her tracks, frozen to the spot.

No, not at the wand reference.

"You can't run that far, Padfoot!" the first voice yelled.

Lily saw the shadows steps behind her and her heart rate began to race. She was literally being followed. By some mass-murderer. She was going to be murdered in a dark passage heading to Hogsmeade! She'd never see light again! She'd never-

Two male voices were screaming back at each other, one turned around, running backwards, the other's hands mere inches from the backwards one's neck.

Lily's shrill high-pitched scream echoed in the passage as the two figures collided with her. And then fell on her.

Much screaming continued when she saw whose body was pressed down upon her own. Her eyes widened in horror as she looked up into the face of James Potter.

James's face glowed in delight at seeing Lily… and being on top of her. Had he been properly aware that it was her, certain parts of his anatomy might have been glowing with delight as well.

"Prongs, mate," Sirius mumbled, his voice odd as if pressed against the concrete. "Could you kindly lift yourself up? My leg is underneath you and on this chick's… something."

"Oh thank Merlin." Lily breathed a sigh of relief at knowing that it was just a leg.

James and Sirius got up and dusted themselves off. James offered Lily a hand to help her up just as Remus came into view.

"You two are such pricks! When will you learn?" he asked, shaking his head at the pair before catching sight of Lily. "Lily!" he exclaimed, taking a step or two back, shocked.

"Lily?" Sirius repeated, turning around. "Shite!" he yelped, backing up a bit, realizing that it was indeed Lily Evans.

"Hello, Remus," Lily mumbled, accepting James's hand up. She couldn't help but feel a slight tingle as she held his hand.

"I told you!" James said happily, pointing at Sirius. "I knew she was here!"

"So that was you I saw this morning!" Lily said, as the pieces clicked into place… like in the library.

"Yeah," James agreed, then looked at Moony. "See? It was her."

"Okay, Prongs, we've got it," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

The group stared at each other.

James stared at Lily. Lily stared at Remus. Remus stared at Sirius. Sirius stared at James.

It was a big stare-fest.

"Hold it," Sirius said, although no one was moving or doing anything of any sort. Sirius turned to Lily and stood in front of her, his faces inches from her own. Then, he growled, "How do you know about this passage?" Sirius turned to look at James, raising his eyebrow in question.

"I never told her, if that's what you're implying," James said. Then he too looked at Lily. "Yeah, how do you know about this passage?"

"Oh," Lily said, temporarily forgetting where she'd found out about the passage. "I read it in this book." She pulled out Passages Only Known to Troublemakers – Hogwarts Secrets Unveiled and handed it to Sirius.

He flipped through the book then slammed it shut with a grimace.

"Ruddy hell," he said. "So all those years of pain-inflicting torture, injures and sneaking around and we could have just read a sodding book?"

"Hey!" Remus protested. "Without those adventures the lot of us probably wouldn't be mates."

James nodded his head in agreement.

"I wonder what prick wrote that. He obviously isn't skilled… he never got to the level of a marauder," James said with pride.

"That's for sure," Sirius seconded.

"So, Evans," James purred after a moment. "Where you be headed in Hogsmeade?"

Lily took a step back from him.

"I wasn't really heading anywhere, Potter," she said. "I was more interested in following the passage."

"Looks like Evans wants to be a marauder," Sirius said with a laugh.

"Oh really?" James asked. "Well you know what you've got to do to become a marauder, Evans?"

"What?" Lily growled.

"You've got to kiss a member of the crew," he said, puckering his lips.

"In that case I'd kiss Remus," Lily said flatly.

James's smile fell and Remus blushed.

"Not," Lily said, "that I even want to become a marauder."

"Everyone wants to be a marauder, Lily," Sirius said confidently.

"I guess I'm not everyone, Black," she snapped.

"But you are being awful marauder-like," James purred. "I like that kind of rebellion in a girl."

"Too bad they don't like it in you, Potter," Lily hissed.

James was about to make a retort when Remus interrupted him.

"Are you staying for the entire summer, Lily?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, throwing a glare at James. "Are you?"

"Of course," Sirius replied for him.

It was Remus's turn to glare.

"Then might I make a proposition?" he asked.

"You might," Lily said, shifting her weight.

"Then may I say that since the four of us are going to be sharing Hogwarts together this summer – that we'll be in constant way of each other – it would be better to put aside differences and become friends. That we might be able to make peace with people – particularly you and James. I would much rather enjoy this summer than have it be like a typical school year," he finished with an unpleasant grimace.

Lily looked at James and sighed, shifting her weight again. She glanced at the ground then looked at him and sighed again. She repeated the move twice. Then she looked at James and stared him straight in the eye.

"Fine," Lily said, giving in. "And I don't hate you blokes or anything… you're just annoying," she said, her gaze lingering on James.

"Excellent," Remus said, walking up beside her. "Then, are we going to Hogsmeade or back to Hogwarts?"

"I vote for Hogsmeade," James said.

"I second that," Sirius said.

Remus looked at Lily.

"Sure, why not," she said.

"Then lets go to Hogsmeade!" he said cheerfully, linking arms with Lily and leading the way along the passage.

Lily giggled but walked with him all the same.

"I think you just lost your girlfriend, mate," Sirius said to James.

"I've noticed," he growled.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The book was right. When you followed the "secret" passage it did indeed come out at a door in the dark alley a block away from Madam Puddifoots. Lily was rather curious as to know how the marauders had stumbled across this secret passage but she kept her mouth shut. She knew they sneaked around… the answer was almost obvious. But after the shock of running into them had worn off everything started to sink in. She'd be spending her entire summer with these boys. And she was the only girl. And two of the boys in the group were very active and one of those two happened to like her very much. She had the slight visual of being locked in a broom closet with one – if not two – of them and being made out with and… other things. Her lips curved upwards at the idea but she nearly slapped herself moments later. She did not want to do those things with Potter. It's just that he was sort of her only – last – option at the moment. She certainly wasn't going to do such vulgar things with Black – and Remus just wasn't like that. Not that Lily was like that either or anything.

As the group emerged from the alleyway they wandered around. James took great time showing Lily around the places of Hogsmeade that she'd never seen – or visited – before (in her four years of coming). She noticed the nasty looks he threw at Remus on occasion but she assumed it was something that she neither cared about nor knew about. So once again she kept her mouth shut.

They wandered into Honeydukes and got some chocolate (Remus stuffing his face and pockets with the substance) before retiring to the Three Broomsticks for butterbeer. They all lounged around the table and talked for a while (Sirius and James eagerly talking about things they could get up to and Remus and Lily discussing the next years prefect duties).

Lily yawned and glanced at the clock above the bar.

"Oh! It's nearly eleven! Have we really been busy this whole time?" she asked.

James and Sirius glanced at the clock dismissively. "Yep, guess so," Sirius said.

Lily sent a questioning glance towards Remus.

"We usually stay out later than this. Eleven o'clock at night is nothing," he said, nodding towards the other boys.

"Oh… so I take it none of you are tired?"

"Not particularly," Sirius and James said together.

"Well, I am… so I think I'll be getting back. Remus, care to join me?" she asked, scooting out of the booth.

"I'd love to," Remus said, also getting out.

"Actually," James said hastily, downing the rest of his drink and standing up. "I think I'll join you guys too."

"There's no need, James," Lily said, pulling her cloak tighter around her. "It's obvious that you and Sirius want to stay out later. It's fine with Remus and me. We can walk back together."

"No, really, Lily, I want to go back to Hogwarts too," James said, looking deep into her green eyes.

"Proooooooongs," Sirius whined.

"See, James?" Lily asked, waving her hand at Sirius. "He wants to stay – you do too. Remus? You ready?"

Lily and Remus walked out the door, James staring after them, his mouth open like a gaping fish. He watched them until they disappeared from sight. Then, he turned around, and:

"You stupid prat!" he yelled, slapping Sirius on the shoulder.

"Owww! What?" he asked, rubbing his shoulder.

"Now they're going to be alone together! Can you not put the pieces together?" He waved his hand violently in the direction where they'd disappeared.

"What? You think Remus would shag her? Hell, he doesn't do that, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed, getting up and following James to the door.

James groaned. "I didn't think of that!"

"Evans isn't like that – Moony isn't like it either," Sirius said confidently as they strolled down the street.

James sighed.

"I'm sorry, Prongs… I guess I didn't realize."

"You realized hours ago when you commented that I'd lost my girlfriend," James spat, obviously in a right temper.

"Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed, grabbing his friend by the shoulder. "Moony is a marauder – we have the dibs pact! You have dibs on Evans! He would never go out with Evans! So just relax, mate."

He mumbled something incoherent.

Sirius rolled his eyes, preparing himself for a this-is-the-truth-talk.

"James, if Evans doesn't like you then you have to live with it. You're just depressing yourself by moping around this way. Don't get your damn hopes up!" He shook James. "Now, lets get your mind of it… wanna go get some firewiskey?"

"Yeah…" James mumbled. "I feel like getting drunk."

"Then it's settled," he said, dropping his hands from James's shoulder. "Let's go get drunk."

…

"I had fun tonight, Remus," Lily commented when they emerged from behind the mirror.

"Yeah, me too," he said, holding the door open for her.

"Although I must admit, this summer is going to be really interesting," she said with a laugh.

"How so?"

"Well… I'm sharing Hogwarts with three of the famous marauders. There's going to be a lot of trouble, am I right?"

Remus laughed. "Not nearly as much as during the year… they have a better chance of getting caught over the summer. Its just going to be pranks between the four of us, mainly."

"That makes me feel much better," Lily said, chortling. "I suppose I should lock the dorm door before I go to bed now."

"That would be advised," Remus said with a nod as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Hey, Remus?" Lily asked, turning around before heading up the staircase.

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

"For what?" he asked, puzzled.

"For being a great friend," she said softly, before turning and heading up the stairs.

"Yeah… you too," he whispered to the dark common room.

Author's Ramblings: I sort of wanted to end it at "face of James Potter" but that'd just be increasingly stupid, seeing as you knew it was him all along. Besides, what was I supposed to do with the next chapter? Write a paragraph then say "the end," review, see you soon? Hahaha – no. It's called a chapter for a reason so the writer in me urged the keys to keep typing and put it where I ended it today. But you don't really care, now do you?

Although I'm a bit pessimistic about where I ended it today… I have a bit more going, and it'd make more sense in this chapter… but I felt that it was already long enough and I don't exactly fancy being murdered for a too-long chapter. But that "extra" part will be at the beginning of the next chapter.

Oh, and in reference to the dibs pact… I used that in my "One Moment" story (one-shot). It's a good story, at least I think so.

Thanks for reading and please review!