A/N Well, I'm back.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter characters that you recognize.

"Look at that," James said, flipping through his book. "The Ghostbusters were real."

"Yeah, it was a Muggle movie," Sirius replied, leaning back in his chair.

"No, look here. After an outbreak of ghouls, these wizards stuck wands inside these fake machines to clear up the problem without revealing the magic community."

"That's great, James." Sirius rolled up his essay and stuck it in his bag. "Have you even started on your essay yet, or are you too intrigued by the Ghostbusters?"

"Finished a few minutes ago. What about you two?"

"Done," Remus and Kevin both responded.

"Great. Let's go make trouble."

The four of them left the Common Room. It had been almost three weeks since school started, and they had been stuck inside the castle nearly the whole time, due to rain. Today, it was still drizzling lightly, but it was much better than it had been.

"I say we go to Hogsmeade, we haven't gone there yet this year," Remus suggested.

"You're allowed to go to Hogsmeade?" Kevin asked in surprise.

"Not exactly," James grinned. "But it's close enough."

When they got to the statue of the humpbacked witch, no one else was in sight. Sirius whispered, "Dissendium!" and the passageway opened up. Sirius climbed inside, followed by Remus and Kevin. Just as James was about to slip inside, someone walked around the corner. Quickly, James leaned on the statue, closing it discreetly. Glancing down the corridor, he saw Lily walking towards him, doing her best to ignore him.

"Evans! Fancy meeting you here," he said as she drew near.

"What exactly are you doing here, Potter?" she asked, barely looking at him. James left the statue to walk beside her.

"Why not be here?" he responded. "This is just as good a place as any to be. It's a wonderful hallway, isn't it?"

"Shouldn't you be with your friends? Or were they the ones that had the statue open? You weren't planning a trip to Hogsmeade, now, were you?"

James grinned. "Not me, of course not. You of all people should know, I wouldn't dream of breaking the rules."

"I've noticed that about you," Lily replied. "Such a quiet boy. You should talk more, it's not healthy to keep everything inside. It could make you suicidal." She smirked. "Then again-"

"Hold it, Evans, don't say something you'll regret," James interrupted. "Your tongue could be sharp enough to kill me if I didn't stop it once in a while."

"Stop it?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "You're the one that sharpens it, Potter!"

"Take it into a room, you two," a drawling voice said softly. James looked up at a tall, blond Slytherin boy, most likely sixth or seventh year.

"We've got just as much of a right as you to be out here," he answered.

"You're a second year, you've got no rights," the older boy sneered. "I could blow you away before you could even think of a defensive spell."

"I could listen to him for hours," James laughed, unfazed by the Slytherin's threat. The boy narrowed his eyes and pulled out his wand. James shook his head. "No spells in the corridors, remember? Seven years and you still haven't learned the rules. Too bad there's a witness here. You wouldn't stoop to cursing a girl, would you?"

"Move along, Potter, Evans," said Professor Malevolent, walking up behind them. "Lucius, I need to see you in my office." James opened his mouth to say something rude, but Malevolent walked away before he could say it. The tall boy walked by, pushing James against the wall as he passed. Before James could mock him, he noticed Lily walking down the corridor. He jogged to catch up with her.

"Go away, Potter," Lily said flatly.

"What'd I do?" he asked, eyes wide.

"Why did you have to provoke him?" Lily stopped and looked up at James. "Don't you have any sense at all? He's a Dark wizard, haven't you heard what he's done?"

"No," James replied truthfully.

"There's a group of Slytherins that have been doing awful things for years here," Lily told him. "No one can identify them for sure, but there's been terrible things happening around them since Voldemort began to make problems. Kids have disappeared without a trace. He's one of them, even if they can't prove it."

"You make it sound like a horror story," James scoffed. "He can't do anything to me. If he was so evil, wouldn't he have hexed me back there, just for talking back?"

"This is why you're going to get in big trouble someday, James Potter!" Lily was thoroughly irritated now. "You treat everything like a big joke, and there are some things that you can't take lightly!"

James looked at her with wide, hazel eyes, like a hurt puppy. Lily turned around and walked away, almost sorry that she had shouted. Instantly, she scolded herself for being concerned with Potter. It was his own fault that he did stupid things.

When James finally returned to the passageway, Sirius was levitating himself about a foot above the ground, Remus was letting a beetle run across his fingers, and Kevin was lying on the ground with his eyes closed.

"What took you?" Sirius asked, dropping his feet back to the ground. "We almost left without you."

"I ran into Evans," James explained, taking the beetle from Remus and putting it on Kevin's nose. Kevin flicked it off, hitting James in the ear. "She made a big deal about me talking back to some Slytherin, Lucius something-or-other."

"Malfoy?" Sirius was suddenly alert. "You don't want to mess with him, James."

"That's what she said," James replied, throwing his arms up in the air. "Then she got all mad about me making a joke of it."

"He's a Malfoy?" Kevin asked. "I've heard of them. They're big on pain and suffering."

"He was full of himself," James said dismissively. "Come on, let's go."