Chapter 5

Adrenaline Rush

Lily let out a frustrated sigh as she stared at the 5th years boys dorm door with a sign hanging on it, "Busy, Go Away." She was tempted just to rip down the sign and barge into the room.

Instead, she knocked again on the door. "I know you're in there." She said after hearing Peter let out a rather girly yelp.

"Lils, read the sigh!" Sirius called out. "It says go away."

She frowned. "Why can't I know what you're doing?"

"It's Marauders business only." Replied Sirius.

Lily shifted her weight to one foot and answered, "Every time you have this sign posted, the next day you disappear for an entire morning. You don't even come down to breakfast, which is surprising because you four will do anything in your power to stuff as much food as possible into your pie hole every other day."

"Come on Lils, we leave you alone when you're in your dorm." James added.

"That's because you can't get into my dorm." Lily replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Doesn't matter. We could call from the common room for you to let us in."

"Sirius you already do that." Lily pointed out.

"Oh," Was all he said.

"Please! Whatever you're doing I promise I won't tell anyone." She pleaded.

James opened the door a crack and looked out at Lily.

"Answer's no sorry Evans." He said.

Lily pouted, "I said please."

James frowned and looked away before the pouting got to him. "Again sorry but it's not my choice."

"Sure make yourself look like the good guy." Remus piped in.

James chuckled. "Good bye Lily..." He whispered closing the door on her.

Lily sighed at the closed door. For nearly 5 years, the Marauders would 'disappear' for a night then a morning every month or so. And Lily, like a lot of other students, had been extremely curious to know where the Marauders went. But what had gotten Lily particularly irked at was the fact that she had been friends with the Marauders for as long as they had been friends with each other however, she had never been told about what they did on this night.

She turned away from the door deciding that she was going to do whatever she had to to figure out where they went. After all, maybe they just hung out in the kitchens the whole time. And knowing them, that was a plausible explanation.

Lily decided to head back to her dorm and plan what she was going to do. She pushed open the door she found Julia sitting on her bed, sucking on a lollipop and reading a copy of last months edition of Young Witches Magazine.

Completely forgetting she was supposed to be mad at Julia she said "I'm following the Marauders tonight."

Julia's brow furrowed and she looked over the top of her magazine. "And why exactly are you following them?"

"Haven't you ever wondered where they disappear to every so often?"

Julia nodded. "Of course."

"Well that's what I'm going to find out tonight."

"And how do you know they'll even be going tonight?"

"Because the night before they disappear they never let anyone in their dorm." Lily replied.

"And they're not letting anyone in their dorm tonight..." Julia thought out loud. "So how do you plan to follow them without them noticing?"

Lily sat down on her bed and let out a sigh. "Well I haven't exactly thought about it." She said.

"I think our best bet would be just not letting them out of our sight." Julia suggested.

"Did you already finish your homework for tomorrow?" Lily asked Julia.

"Yeah but what does that got to-."

"Cause it's going to be a long night." Lily said smirking a bit at the thought of their adventure they were sure to have tonight.

Lily and Julia had stationed themselves under the Boys' Dorm staircase so they would know if anyone came down from it that night. Julia had dozed off and was snoring softly. Lily, however, remained alert as she watched the fire die down in the big stone fireplace.

They had been there for a good few hours and hadn't heard a peep out of the boys' dorm.

Julia jumped slightly waking herself up, "What time is it?" She asked rubbing her eyes.

"I think around one." Lily replied.

"Have you seen anything?"

"Nope?"

"Heard anything?"

"Nothing." Lily replied with a heavy sigh.

"Do you think they already left and we just missed it?" Julia asked.

Lily shrugged. "I guess they could of. They do have that invisibility cloak..."

"Maybe it's not worth waiting out here any longer." Julia said after a long yawn.

Lily turned to her. "You can go if you want, but I'm going to stay up a little longer."

"Suit yourself..." Julia said standing up and stretching her long arms over her head.

Just then, the girls heard the click of the door open above them. Julia shot Lily a glance. "You heard that?" She whispered.

"Shh..." Lily said pulling her friend back under the balcony.

"Is anyone down there?" The girls heard James ask.

A shadow of a head leaned over the balcony surveyed the common room. "Nope no one."

"Alright we have to move fast." Remus replied.

"Peter are you coming!" Sirius said before shutting the dorm door.

"I think we should leave earlier next month." Remus spoke again. "I can feel it happening already..."

"Lets go quick!" James said in an unusual panicky voice.

The boys walked down the staircase and over to the common room door. With a squeak it opened and the boys were engulfed in the hall's darkness.

After they left, Lily quickly followed them moving as quietly as she could letting the light from the dieing embers lead the way. "Hurry Juls."

Julia quickly followed her. Lily put her head against the door listening for the voices of the boys but heard none. "If we don't go now we might loose them..." Lily gently and silently pushed open the door.

"Trust Peter to hold us up." Sirius voice echoed down the hallway.

"Yeah come on Wormtail or we won't get there in time." James said in a low whisper.

Lily stepped out of the common room. Julia tried to do the same but blindly walked into a suit of armor. She swore under her breath and felt Lily's hand grab around her wrist and pull her around the corner.

"Smooth..." Lily whispered to Julia.

"What was that?" Sirius asked turning around. He pointed his lit wand down the corridor searching for the origin of the noise.

"Remus you go ahead, we'll catch up with you..." James said worried that they might not make if out of the castle in time.

Sirius started down the hall still looking for anyone who might have caused the noise. Lily bit her bottom lip trying to think of something. She quickly slipped off her shoe and muttered "Accienit Rodentia!" Her shoe turned into a small life size figurine of a rat.

Lily squatted down and pushed the fake rat out into the hallway and held her breath hoping the fake rat would appear real in the shadows of the hall. "Peter what the bloody hell are you doing over there?" Sirius asked the fake rat.

Julia raised an eyebrow. "I'm over here." Peter said behind Sirius.

"Oh right..." Sirius said turning around. "Come on it was just a rat."

"Did Sirius just talk to the rat?" Julia asked.

"I believe he even called it Peter." Lily replied equally confused and concerned.

"He's loosing it." Julia said watching the boys turn down the corner.

Once they were out of sight, Lily reached out into the hall to grab transfigured shoe. She muttered the counter-curse transfiguring it back into a shoe. She slipped it on and headed down the hall after the Marauders. She could feel her palms growing sweaty and her heart racing with the adrenaline rush this chase was bringing.

Many corridors later, the group ended up just in front of the Entrance Hall. "Is Filch nearby?" James asked Remus who was holding a bit of parchment.

Remus squinted down at the Marauders Map and frowned. "Filch isn't but I-." He began, looking up directly at Lily and Julia who were now hidden behind a statue of Godric Gryffindor. "I think we should check-" Remus stopped talking and clutched his chest with his hand. His breathing became more rapid and forced.

Lily exchanged a look with Julia.

"He saw us." Julia said certainly.

"I think we have more to worry about..." Lily said watching Remus wince in pain.

"Do you think he's hurt?"

"It sure looks like it." Lily replied to Julia's question.

"Let's get him out of here fast." Sirius said pushing open the door to the castle. Peter grabbed the parchment Remus dropped and tucked it into his pocket.

And with that the boys left off into the night.

"Come on let's go." Lily said running towards the ajar entrance door. Julia followed behind her.

"If Remus is hurt, do you think we should get some help?" Julia asked.

Lily looked out into the darkness and watched the boys led Remus towards the...Whomping Willow?

"No not just yet..." Lily said keeping her eyes on them.

"What are they doing?"

"Only one way to find out..." Lily said and took a step out of the castle only to be distracted by a loud thud behind them. Both girls wheeled around and stared into the dark corridor.

"What do you suppose that was?" Lily whispered.

"I don't know..." Julia said, her heart pounding hard against her chest.

"Well let's get out of here before we have a chance to find out." Lily said hurrying out of the castle and into the fresh Spring night.

Julia slid the doors shut before turning back to the Whomping Willow where the boys had been heading.

"Now where did they go...?" Lily said squinting into the darkness.

"Look there's James!" Julia said pointing a finger to a boy who appeared to have just jumped down some sort of hole by the now frozen Whomping Willow.

"Quick!" Lily said before sprinting off towards the tree.

The girls reached the Whomping Willow panting softly. Julia looked at the branches of the willow cautiously. She had never known the tree could stop it's violent thrashing of its branches.

Her eyes moved from the branches to the hole in the ground next to the tree. "You go first." Julia said.

"Do you think they'll see us if I light my wand?" Lily asked not thrilled about the idea of jumping down into a hole. After all, she had no idea where it led or even how deep it would.

"Probably." Was Julia's response.

Lily sighed. "Alright but if I land in a pit of snakes or something equally horrid, my ghost will haunt you for life." Lily warned squatting down next to the hole.

"Good luck?"

"Gee thanks Julia." Lily said lowering herself slowly down the hole keeping her elbows on the grass.

"I'll be right here. If you run into trouble just shout and I'll get you out of there." Julia promised.

"Here goes nothing..." Lily said taking a deep breath and plunging down the dark hole. Her feet touched damp earth shortly. She lost her balance and stumbled back a bit hitting a stonewall behind her.

"Lily?" Julia asked.

Lily didn't say anything, a smirk crossing her face.

"Lily are you okay?" Julia asked in a more panicked voice after waiting for a response.

"I'm just messing with you, I'm fine." Lily called up.

"Don't do that to me!" Julia said breathing a sigh of relief.

"Hey, you made me jump first..."

"Say how long is the fall?"

"It's not bad really. Maybe five-six feet tops." Lily replied. "You'll be fine." She assured her friend.

"Alright then. I'm jumping, steer clear." Julia said before hoping down the hole.

"You okay?" Lily asked Julia who had fallen over as well at the landing.

"Yeah fine." She said lifting herself upright. "Which way did they go?"

"Down this way. I think it's the only way to go." Lily replied.

The girls walked down the muddy walk way keeping their hands on either side of the tunnel to help aid them. They walked a good forty of so feet before Lily's foot caught on something and she fell forward, her hands breaking her fall.

"Stairs..." Lily muttered pulling herself up. "Careful Juls." She warned feeling her way up the steps with her foot.

It was very tempting for both of them to pull out there wands and light up the hall but they knew they would be risking too much.

They had already made it this far.

Slowly but surely they made their way carefully up the stairs. "It's just a bit farther…" They reached the end of the hall; the end of the path. Lily looked up at a set of decaying wooden doors that reminded her of the doors from her cellar at her house back home; The ones that opened to the yard from the basement.

So when Lily pushed open the doors, she was shocked to see that they didn't lead outside, but into a house.

Lily pulled herself up and Julia soon followed her.

"Does someone live here?" Julia asked looking around at the dusty worn out furniture.

"I don't think so." Lily replied looking about as well. "I think they would have cleaned up a bit if they did."

Julia began to wander around the room before asking. "Have a clue where we are?"

Lily walked over to a boarded up window and peered out to see a scene she recognized. "Hogsmeade…" She said out loud and turned to her friend. "Julia, we're in the Shrieking Shack!" She exclaimed.

"But how-" Julia began not believing it.

"Look there's Zonko's right there." Lily said pointing out the window. "And Honeydukes over there."

"But the Shrieking Shack is haunted."

A shiver ran down Lily's spine as she remembered the chilling ghost stories about what laid behind the front doors of the Shack.

"Haunted by the Devil some say…" Julia continued.

"Stop talking like that." Lily replied trying to push away the stories flowing through her mind.

"Sorry…" Julia muttered.

CRASH!

The girls both exchanged looks before hurrying up the stairs to find what had made the noise. More loud crashing noises could be heard from the room. Lily pushed open the door a bit just enough to see a big black dog standing in the room.

"Oh my God…" Lily muttered throwing the door open, her wand raised high.

When she saw the dog, she had feared the worse. Lily was afraid that something might have happened to the Marauders and by the looks of this dog; he wasn't a nice cute one you'd see in the pet shops.

Two other larger animals that neither girls could make out in the darkness pushed against each other roughly biting at each other. Julia gasped and reached for her wand.

"James, Sirius," Lily said her wand still raised. "Remus, Peter?" Lily called again. "Are you guys alright?" She asked both their wands pointed at the animals.

This is about the only time any of the friends could remember when Peter had actually done something intelligent; something clever to help his friends.

In the next room over, Peter changed back into a human and called to Lily, "We're fine. Go back the way you came, we're leaving out the back door. Get yourself out of here quick!" He said.

Julia stunned by Peter's newfound leadership backed away the way came before sprinting back to the muddy passageway.

Lily nodded. "Right okay…" She muttered keeping her wand on the dog until she was far enough away to be sure if she took her eyes of it for a second, it wouldn't attack her.

Both girls quickly ran back the way they came. Down into the passageway, down the stairs, through the hall and out of the hole.

There hearts were pounding fast as they entered the last short sprint to the castle doors.

"Do you think they made it out okay?" Julia asked through raspy breaths.

"They'll be fine." Lily said completely confident in the Marauders ability to get themselves out of a sticky situation.

Lily turned up the stairs to the castle darting as fast as she could; though there was really no reason to be running seeing as they left the dangers about a half-mile behind at the Whomping Willow.

Lily was completely shocked when she ran full speed into a tall, gangly caretaker. Argus Filch.

A/N- Cackles evilly Super sorry about the cliff hanger but this chapter is nearing 10 pages long, it's almost 11 o'clock at night and I promised you a new chapter by the end of the day if I got my 5 reviews. And I got them .

Thanks so much to all that reviewed. I really can't thank you enough! Hugs them all I can't tell you how much I really really appreciate it.

And sorry this chapter doesn't really correlate to anything that happened in the pervious one but I promise you'll understand why I needed this to reveal what I'm going to in the next chapter.

As for how many reviews I want before next chapter Smirks. Can we make it…dare I say…10? Come on that's not asking that much. Remember I'm slaving over here :P I've gotten 5 fairly decent sized chapters up in the past day/day and a half.

And I kept my promise about writing this up and posting it if I got my 5 so you can trust me :). However…If I finish the next chapter and really want to post it, I might have to leave it off at a really nasty cliffhanger again. Or maybe change the story to slash!

Ha ha just kidding about the slash part, but maybe not the cliff hanger…

I'm just messing around. Anyway thanks again to all that reviewed! And I know some of you put me on your alert list HOWEVER, somehow 'forgot' to review as well. Tsk tsk shame on you. :P

Alright I'm done talking…XXX

Kaitlynn