J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter et. al. I'm just playing in her sandbox.
Halloween morning dawned clear and bright at Hogwarts. James knew because he had barely slept the night before. Unfortunately, October's full moon fell on the 30th that year, which meant that James and his friends had important business to attend to.
It was a tradition of sorts for the boys who lived at the top of Gryffindor Tower. Near the end of their second year, James, Sirius, and Peter had discovered an awful truth about their friend Remus: he was a werewolf. What happened next defined them as friends and brothers for the rest of their lives. Vowing to help Remus in any way they could, the other three hatched a plan to become unregistered animagi. Over several years of hard work, they eventually accomplished the feat, although the journey wasn't without its scary moments.
For example, when they first began experimenting with the actual spellwork involved, Sirius had accidentally transfigured his upper half while leaving his lower half human. Once they had all succeeded in the transformation process, it was a funny joke to look back upon, but at the time they were terrified. They couldn't go to Madam Smythwick, the cranky old witch who ran the school infirmary. She would know in a heartbeat what had happened. If they had been caught doing highly dangerous, unsupervised magic, the consequences would have been dire. Expulsion, or at the very least, detention every night for the rest of their Hogwarts careers.
Luckily, working together, James, Remus and Peter had managed to transfigure Sirius back to his old self. Needless to say, it was several weeks before either of them were brave enough to try it again.
By the end of their fifth year, they completed their transformations and mastered the art of the animagi: James became a stag; Sirius, a large black dog; and Peter, a rat. From that time forward, the boys were together every full moon, running around the Forbidden Forest or exploring the countryside around Hogsmeade. In the summers, they met near Remus' home in Wales whenever possible. Remus was never quite himself during these romps, and he rarely remembered the entire evening, but he was less likely to harm himself when they were there, and the days after the full moon tended to be easier for him on the whole.
As James watched the sky turn a pale pink and orange that Halloween morning, Remus was being led from the rickety but extremely secure house in Hogsmeade where Dumbledore and the other faculty believed he spent the entire night every full moon. He would take the rest of the day to recover in the Hospital Wing, but they had high hopes that he would be let out to enjoy the Halloween feast with the rest of the student body. Sirius and Peter had both passed out on top of their covers as soon as they got up to their tower room, and the only sound was the distant hooting of an owl and Peter's soft snores.
James rubbed his eyes tiredly, wondering whether he could get away with skiving off his classes altogether that day. The risk of getting caught and punished was too great, though. He had to be allowed to patrol with Lily that night.
Lily. He sighed and rested his chin on his arms, staring moodily out the window. Working with her hadn't been the gift he had thought it would be. She was stubborn, opinionated, and persistent...and those were her good qualities. These days she was also prone to mercurial moods, changing from happy and almost flirtatious to stormy in an astonishingly short length of time.
At least they had been on relatively civil terms since the whole blood status incident. He thought most of that was probably due to his uncharacteristically responsible choice to involve Dumbledore in planning for the Halloween patrols. At the time, he had thought it was the best way to shut her up and save face. After speaking to the Headmaster, however, even he believed that it had been far and away the best decision either of them could have made.
The usual faculty patrols would be doubled that night, and Dumbledore himself had selected the students who would be patrolling with James and Lily. Some of them were purebloods, like James, but others were particularly gifted Muggleborn and halfblood prefects.
"Not that I don't trust your judgment, Mr. Potter," the old wizard had said gently, "but, as they say, better safe than sorry, don't you think?"
"Absolutely," James had answered fervently. "Um, sir?"
Dumbledore had looked up from the piece of parchment on his desk, blue eyes serious.
"Do you think they'd really do something dangerous? Or is all of this just precaution?"
The Headmaster leaned back in his chair and peered thoughtfully at James over the top of his half-moon spectacles.
"Just precaution? No. But as to whether they would really do something dangerous...I'm afraid that depends on how accurate some of the information I have gathered recently is, and how imminent certain events truly are."
"Certain events?" James felt a thrill of fear run up his spine.
"I'm afraid I can't say much more at present," Dumbledore said gently.
"Oh, of course," James said quickly. "Sorry, Professor. I shouldn't have presumed..."
"No, perhaps not." The Headmaster smiled, and his blue eyes twinkled. "But you should never apologize for asking the appropriate questions. Good day, Mr. Potter."
Later, Lily and James had conjectured what information he had that would increase the threat level on Halloween night, but quickly abandoned the discussion. There was simply too much that Dumbledore had access to above and beyond any ordinary wizard.
James knew if he were to lie down, he'd sleep until the afternoon, and so, groaning, he clambered to his feet, threw on his uniform, and stumbled down the stairs. The common room was silent in the pre-dawn hours. The embers of the previous night's fire glowed red in the dim light.
Breakfast wouldn't be served for another hour at least, so James wandered over to his favorite armchair and sank into it. He leaned his head back against the chair and closed his eyes.
Lily had also had a sleepless night, though for markedly different reasons. In the days following their encounter in the Library, she had noticed Severus's eyes following her everywhere. He watched her at mealtimes, in class, and across the courtyard on sunny afternoons. His eyes were full of concern, but it didn't make the whole thing less creepy. She found she actually missed the days when James was dogging her every footstep, hounding her for dates. At least if he was in her immediate vicinity, it usually meant that Sev wasn't.
Dumbledore's promise of additional faculty patrols had made her feel marginally better, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something big was about to happen. Unwilling to rock the boat with James, she had kept her mouth shut past some blind speculation about what Dumbledore really knew about Lord Voldemort and his followers. All that nervous anticipation made it practically impossible to sleep the night before Halloween.
She waited until breakfast was due to start before wrapping her dressing gown around herself and walking down to the common room. She would have missed James entirely if he hadn't let out a particularly loud garbled sound as she passed by the fireplace.
Surprised, she looked toward the sound. James was sprawled on an armchair, long legs draped haphazardly over one arm, head thrown back against the high back of the chair. One of his arms was curled into his chest and the other hung loosely down toward the floor, his fingers barely touching the cold stones. His glasses were slightly askew.
The sight warmed her. He looked so peaceful. She crept over to where he was standing, careful not to make any noise. She wondered what he was doing down in the common room, and if he had spent the entire night in such an uncomfortable position. He mumbled indistinctly again, and then he smiled.
She sighed. He was so approachable when he slept. "Oh, James. You are a problem."
"Mmph." His eyelids fluttered, and Lily took a step back, flushing at the thought of him catching her practically ogling him in his sleep.
"Oi, Potter!" she whispered loudly, deciding it was better to go on the offensive. He opened his eyes. "What are you doing down here?"
He struggled to sit up with a large yawn. "Evans?" he said groggily.
"What are you doing sleeping down here? Is there a bogart under your bed?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I just came down a few minutes ago." He straightened his glasses and shoved them further up his nose before standing up and stretching. "I didn't mean to fall asleep. Must have drifted off waiting for breakfast. You heading down?"
When she nodded, he grinned. "Excellent. Divine providence, that's what I call this. Shall we?"
In spite of herself, Lily smiled. "Come on, then. We'll probably get the pick of the food. I doubt anyone else is even awake."
The castle was peaceful in the early morning hours, and they met no one as they wandered down toward the Great Hall.
"Why don't you and I patrol together more often, Evans?" James asked suddenly.
"We've patrolled together as much as any other pair," Lily protested. "The whole point of setting patrol schedules is to rotate through pairs evenly, so that no one spends all their time with the same person."
"Yes, but we make the schedule."
Lily stared at him blankly. "And?"
"Never mind."
"You're not the most coherent person in the early morning hours, are you?"
He grinned ruefully. "I suppose not."
In the Great Hall, only Professors McGonagall and Sinistra, along with a scattered handful of students from various houses, were sitting down to breakfast. James and Lily made their way to the empty Gryffindor table, helping themselves to plates and glasses of juice.
"Happy Halloween," Lily said with a smile, lifting her pumpkin juice in a mock toast.
"Here's hoping," James answered darkly.
:o:o:o:o:o:
James loved Halloween at Hogwarts. When he stopped to think about it, he knew that the yearly Halloween celebration would easily be one of the things he missed most about the castle. While he was looking forward to patrolling that night with a dull sort of dread, the feast was sure to be one for the record books. He had to stop himself from chuckling over the charmed pumpkins that would be levitated over the student body in just a few hours time.
Remus appeared in their dorm shortly before the feast that evening, looking drawn and worn, but otherwise happy.
"Moony!" Peter cried. "They let you out!"
"Gentlemen, it appears I've been granted parole," he answered, bowing slightly to the applause of his roommates.
"And just in time." Sirius rubbed his hands together gleefully. "We were starting to think we'd have to go down to the feast without you, mate."
"As if I would miss the opportunity to get detention with you lot for the next month," Remus laughed.
"Only a month?" James asked. "Selling us a bit short aren't you?"
"Always best to make a conservative bet on festive occasions." Remus shrugged. "Chances are good that Dumbledore will just think it's a good spell and funny as hell. That always leads to lighter punishments."
"I'm starving," Peter complained. "Can we talk about how many detentions we're in for a bit later? After we've eaten?"
In the Great Hall, James sidled up behind Lily, who was laughing with Alice, Mary and a couple of Ravenclaws who he recognized by sight but not by name.
"Boo!"
She screeched and jumped, hand over her heart. "James, you prat!" she laughed. "You're lucky I didn't curse your pants off."
"Wouldn't be a curse, love," he said with a wink.
She rolled her eyes but didn't make any snide comments, which James took as a victory. He wandered off with a smile on his face, and Lily turned back to her friends, who were staring at her incredulously.
"What?" she snapped when neither one of them said anything.
"You two seem friendly," Mary said, glancing at Alice.
Lily shrugged. "We are. Friendly. Friends. You know."
Suzy James, a pretty Ravenclaw sixth year, peered over at where James and the other Marauders were goofing around and sighed enviously. "He's wasted on you, Lily."
Myra Ackles, Suzy's friend and fellow Ravenclaw, nodded fervently. "I'd kill to have James Potter look at me that way."
Lily bristled. "Well, all you'll have to do is reject him continuously for about three years, and then ignore him for another. That's been my experience anyway."
Alice cleared her throat. "I think it's nice that you're putting all that rivals and enemies rubbish behind you. You might just find that James is quite…fanciable."
There was a loud crash behind them, and the girls stopped talking and whipped around toward the noise. Severus stood a few feet away, a shattered crystal goblet at his feet. His face flamed, and he stooped, muttering, "Reparo," and hurrying back toward the Slytherin table, goblet in hand.
"Weirdo," Myra scoffed.
But Lily didn't miss the furious look in Severus's eyes, or the scowl on his face before he turned away. It felt as if there was a lump of ice in her stomach, and nothing, not her favorite treacle tart, not hot chocolate with huge, fluffy marshmallows, or even the food fight that ensued when the pumpkins floating over the house tables started shooting sweets down at the students, could completely erase the feeling.
She was picking Droobles Best Blowing Gum out of her hair—thankfully still wrapped in wax paper—in the common room later when James walked up to her.
"That stunt with the pumpkins wasn't particularly funny, you know. I've seen better." She tried to keep her face stern but knew she failed when he winked at her.
"I don't know what you mean," he said cheerfully. "I certainly don't know anything about who snuck into the Great Hall last night to charm those Jack-o-Lanterns into spitting out sweets after dessert. Or why they started swooping down on the house tables and dive-bombing professors."
"Honestly, James." The sound of her laugh warmed him, and for a moment he allowed himself to enjoy the prospect of spending several hours in her company, making her laugh. Then he remembered the Prefects they were responsible for, and the fight that would likely occur in the corridors while the rest of Hogwarts slept. He swallowed a lump.
"Listen, Lily, can we head down to our office before getting started? There's something I'd like to show you."
She arched an eyebrow at him and leaned back to get a good look at his face. "I will not show you mine if you show me yours."
He choked, then sputtered out a maniacal giggle. "Lily Evans, I didn't think you had it in you. No, alas, I have a different sort of show and tell in mind."
She shrugged. "You've intrigued me. Lead on."
As they left the common room, she caught sight of Sirius standing at the foot of the boys' staircase. He was glaring daggers at them, and Lily leaned into James, confused.
"Why does Sirius look like he's about to murder both of us in cold blood?" she whispered loudly.
James glanced behind them and sighed. "Never mind him. He was outvoted, and Padfoot doesn't like to lose."
"Outvoted?"
"You're about to be let into a couple of rather big secrets. Marauder secrets. Had to get the lads' permission first. Peter and Remus agreed to let you in on it, but Sirius...well, he still thinks you're a bit of a narc."
"Sirius likes me!"
James laughed. "I didn't say he doesn't like you. Just that he thinks you'll run to the professors once you learn our tricks. So you'll have to promise me that you absolutely won't go blabbing to the whole school. Or McGonagall."
She stared at him. "I don't know that I can agree to that."
He stopped in his tracks and crossed his arms. They were still well away from their office, and older students were wandering by, enjoying their last free moments before curfew.
"Don't be a ponce, Evans."
"I will not agree to keep something dangerous or illegal to myself."
"What if I were to tell you that the secrets you would be told are neither dangerous nor illegal?"
She frowned. "Then why are they secrets?"
"Oh, for the love of—Evans, can you just trust me? Just suspend your ever-loving skepticism for a moment and trust that I am not about to make you complicit in something terrible?"
There was another pause that seemed to stretch for far too long. Finally, however, Lily gave a hesitant nod. "Okay. I trust you. And I promise."
"Thankyou," he huffed, and they started out toward their office once more, Lily sneaking curious glances at him out of the corner of her eye.
The truth was, it had been incredibly difficult to convince Remus and Peter to agree to share the existence of the Map and the invisibility cloak with her. Sirius had flat-out refused to even consider James's arguments, and the real reason hadn't anything to do with Lily's ability to keep a secret.
"She's a bird, mate," Sirius argued. "She isn't one of us. And she never will be. You don't see any of us running off and sharing trade secrets with the girls we fancy, do you?"
Describing Lily Evans as just another girl he fancied was a stretch, but James hadn't felt like getting into the argument right then.
Instead, he said, "Look, we don't know what's going to happen. Dumbledore is legitimately concerned. And not having to hide the Map or the Cloak from her will make things much easier. It isn't like Moony can come out with me tonight. For one thing, he's not assigned, for another, he's completely knackered."
Remus had frowned, but reluctantly agreed with his point. But Sirius wasn't backing down.
"Oh, will it be easier?" he had scoffed angrily."I'm sure it will be easier to impress Evans, maybe even sneak off for a quiet snog. All while you're selling your best mates up the river!"
"Padfoot!" Peter had gasped. "Lily's all right. Besides, all James wants to do is keep the school safe."
"I'm sure that's all he wants," Sirius replied. "That and Lily Evans starkers in his—"
"That's enough!" Remus interrupted, standing up and sticking a hand out to stop James from pouncing on Sirius. For good measure, he cast a shield spell between them as well. "Don't make me hex you both."
James had declared a majority vote, and though Sirius fought tooth and nail, the other three agreed.
"It isn't like I'm telling her about Moony, Padfoot," James had said as he left their room. "Or about being animagi. The invisibility cloak is mine to share, and the Map, well, that's just a damned impressive bit of magic. It isn't as though anyone else is going to be able to duplicate it. Relax."
After he left, Sirius had sat staring at the empty doorway.
"Once you let a girl in the group, everything changes," he said eventually, to no one in particular. Remus patted his shoulder and left the room, heading for the common room with a pile of parchment and some spellbooks. But Peter came over and joined him on the floor.
"Nothing has changed," Peter said quietly. "We're still best mates. We'll always be together, just like we planned."
Sirius shook his head sadly. There was a note of bitterness in his voice when he spoke again. "Nah, Wormy. We're growing up. If it wasn't Evans, it would be some other girl infiltrating. Adults have wives and children and jobs. They don't have time for pranks, or their old school friends. Priorities change."
Peter's face fell, and he looked down at his pudgy, too small hands. "That won't matter," he said firmly, as though just saying the words made them true. "Not for us."
"I hope you're right," said Sirius quietly.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading!