Chapter 102: First Time Out

"So we shall tryout the suggested route this Friday night??" James said finally. The prefects were having a meeting regarding the school event on a droning Wednesday evening. Although it was a much-anticipated event, one just could not help feeling drowsy after a day of lessons.

"So that's the end??" One fifth-year asked. He looked like he had just waked up from his daze.

"Yup. Gather by eight at the Charms classroom corridors." James instructed. "Late comers will not be entertained." Some Slytherins glared at James for his remark. The group of Slytherin prefects was late on purpose for this evening's meeting, which was no surprise to the rest.

"We need to inspect everyone's brooms to make sure they're safe for long distance." Sirius added. All the seventh-year Gryffindors were co-opt into the organizing committee for this particular major event and all of them were above-average fliers.

"If there's nothing else, this will be the end of tonight's meeting." James said finally. The lethargic students seemed to have gotten a newfound energy and left the classroom hastily.

"Hmm.. I think it's about time I service my broom." Sirius commented, stroking his chin. The nine Gryffindors was leaving together, waiting for one another along the way.

"Sirius, your broom is only three months old!!" Stefanie said. The group laughed at their little joke. Though Sirius was actually Stefanie's cousin, they were as close as twin brother and sister. The three guys had got new broomsticks, again, before school reopened earlier this year. Their parents had came visiting in Hogwarts, bringing them the newest broomsticks off the shelf, while Lily, Samantha and Joey inherited their previous ones.

"Oh ya. I suddenly realized that I had a new Lightning."

"Yeah, you can use your old Thunderbolt to sweep the floor."

"Our dorm floor is quite dirty, don't you think??" Sirius was crapping with Remus, putting an arm over his shoulder.

"Your dorm floor must be precious since you use a broom that cost a few thousand galleons to sweep it." Lily teased.

"The value depreciated after flying around for two years." Sirius turned around to reply Lily.

"Some people use the same broom for seven years, you know??" Samantha added.

"You don't really need to constantly buy new brooms to sweep the floor, do you??" Sirius seemed to have something witty to reply everyone.

"Sirius, never mind." Stefanie told him.

"You hasn't answer my question."

"Padfoot, it's bedtime." James told his buddy. They finally reached the Gryffindor tower with Sirius talking non-stop about the various functions of broom.

"I'm not tired yet." Sirius argued.

"Yeah, and the night is young." Lily added with a grin.

"High-five man!!" Sirius gave Lily a high-five.

"Better get some sleep. Otherwise we will be falling asleep at the greenhouse tomorrow morning." Remus reminded. The rating for how interesting the lesson for Herbology depended greatly on the plant they would be doing for the day.

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"Lily." Lily turned around at the familiar voice.

"Hi James." She said in her normal voice.

"Just wondering if you're free now." James asked. "Just a walk or something."

"Ok." Might as well as face the fact. "Walk to where??"

"The Room of Requirement??" James suggested.

"Ok."

"By the way, did you know what Sirius did after, erm, that afternoon??" James was lightening the mood a little.

"What??" Lily asked curiously.

"We weren't there for dinner, and Sirius had taken matters into his hand." James was laughing at the thought of interrogating Sirius a few days ago. "He publicized the whole afternoon incident, with his own drama and exaggeration."

"That figured why everyone was giving me strange looks ever since." Lily nodded with some understanding.

"Yeah, and I tried to strangle him at the dorm, the way you did on me."

"Eh.. Ok, that must have been pretty comical." Lily was laughing at the image of James sitting of Sirius' chest and having a wild attempt strangling session. "You won't kill him, he's your best bud."

"Well, you tried to kill me, remember??"

"Well.." Lily did not know how to answer that question. James was walking to and fro in front of the entrance of Room of Requirement.

"Let's get in." James told her when the door emerged suddenly. "Imagine Sirius is hiding behind some wall and pillar eavesdropping isn't exactly the thing I want."

"I don't want that either." Lily told him. "Oh, this looks just like your house." The room now resembled the Potter's fireplace, with the roaring fireplace at one side, their expensive Persian carpet in front and two large couches with a coffee table.

"This is probably the most cozy looking place I can imagine." James said. "Afterall I haven't been home for over a year."

"Yeah, our extended detention and stuff."

"Take a seat." Lily settled on one of the comfy sofas. "Imagine Sirius popping up at that fireplace."

"Theoretically impossible because this fireplace isn't connected to the Floo network."

"I don't know about that. Even if Sirius really appear, I won't be surprised."

"Seems like you're expecting him to pop out of nowhere."

"Not expecting. But he's always doing the unexpected." Lily grinned.

"Actually I asked you here is to talk about us."

"Oh, us." A strange wave of tension seemed to fall upon the room.

"I was wondering why you didn't want to be my girlfriend actually." James was very direct with his words.

"It's not you. I don't know. I don't like the idea of being somebody's girlfriend. I like my freedom. No. I love my freedom. It's just – I don't know. Weird??" Lily was blabbering slightly, not making too much sense.

"I won't be possessive or anything like that."

"I – I don't know."

"Everyone assumed that we're already a couple."

"I've noticed that."

"If you don't want, I can clarify with the rest. It's ok."

"Not that I don't want, its just – strange??"

"You can get over that strange idea. I'm sure."

"Are you hungry??" Lily asked suddenly.

"Oh, yeah." After James' comment, dinner popped up from nowhere on the coffee table. He helped himself with some finger food.

"Actually I think we can try and see how everything goes." Lily said and helped herself with a potato wedge. James choked on his food upon Lily's comment. "Hey, you okay??"

"Ya, I'm fine. Just a little taken aback by what you said." James was looking at Lily intensely.

"Oh."

"I'm really glad to hear that." James was grinning.

"Okay." Lily smiled back. The wave of tension had significantly reduced.

"Let's eat." James was sounding genuinely happy and both of them helped themselves to the food, suddenly feeling hungry.

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"They're at the Room of Requirement!!" Sirius shrieked. He had been studying the map for the last few minutes and concluded the whereabouts of James and Lily.

"Sirius, just give them some privacy." Stefanie told Sirius. She was hanging out at the boys' dormitory, doing her assignments with Remus.

"But this is a show not to be missed!!"

"Padfoot, cool off. You are not the lead character here." Remus told his buddy, without looking too interested in James' love life.

"Are the two dots sticking together or something??" Peter asked Sirius.

"Nope. They're separated. And the two dots seems quite still." Sirius was stroking his chin, trying to make some assumptions of what had happened in the room.

"Just leave them alone." Remus looked up. "I'm sure you won't want us prying into your love life."

"I don't mind. This shows how popular I'm to have paparazzi around."

"Because no one would be bothered to." Stefanie grinned.

"Let's continue with our work while Sirius is busy idling." Remus commented.

"That's a good oxymoron."

"Another good oxymoron is serious Sirius."

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"This must be one of the happiest moment in my life." James told Lily.

"I doubt so. There has been many happy moments now and then."

"This is one of the best." James flashed one of his cute smiles.

"Ok, that's a cute smile." Lily smiled back. "If that's what you want to hear."

"Shall we go back now?? We need a good night rest for tomorrow's trip."

"Sure." They left the room and walked down the dark corridors. "We must have been inside for quite long."

"Yeah, it's about ten."

"I see." There was some sort of awkward silence around. Most of the students should be back in their dormitory, or at least not walking along corridors.

"James!! Lily!!"

"Ted, Alex, what are you two doing??" James raised his brows in surprised. "It's already curfew time."

"Not yet, fifteen more minutes to go." Alex told them. "We went to find the Slytherins tower." He said in a low voice, making sure there was no one around.

"Ooh." Understanding dawned the two seventh-years.

"I get what you mean." Lily grinned.

"Walls have ears. We talk when are back in the common room." James told the two boys. Together the four of them chatted all the way back to the Gryffindor tower.

"Actually the Slytherins live in the dungeons." James told the two boys. "But only the Slytherins know the password."

"Ooh. Then how are we going to peanut butter their brooms??" Alex said sounding disappointed.

"There're so many chances you can do it. But the most important point is 'don't get caught'." James told them in a serious tone. "Trust me. It's not going to be a pretty sight if that ever happens."

"I see the way you Marauders deal with Snape and Malfoy, it's pretty bad."

"It's mean. But the whole point is, we usually do something drastic to them when they did something to us first."

"Anyway there will be the quidditch practice now and then." Lily told them. "You can do something to the brooms at the changing room." She grinned mischievously.

"Great idea." Ted said. "But I've got a better suggestion."

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"Look, don't give me any excuses for being late." James said with authority. "We won't be inspecting your brooms for safety precaution. If anything happens, it will be your own responsibility." The six Slytherin prefects had just arrived, forty-five minutes after the supposedly meeting time.

"Our brooms are at perfect conditions. Who did you think you are?? The broom-man??" Severus said haughtily.

"Ok, since we're all ready. Let's go now." Lily intervened before the Marauders and Slytherins got the chance to argue, or even wizard duel.

"Stay close together." James told everyone. "Lily will cast the Disillusioned Charm on everyone. Get into a buddy system. In case anyone got lost, send out white sparks from your wand. Is everything clear??" Everyone was nodding his or her heads. Lily went around the room casting the Disillusioned Charm onto all fifth and sixth-years. The seventh-years had already learnt it.

"There's a chill down my spine." A fifth-year Ravenclaw prefect commented.

"That's normal." Lily smiled. She moved on to the next student.

"Let's go now." James announced after all of them had been charmed to blend into the surroundings. They got onto their brooms and flew out from the window.

"Ouch!!" Someone yelped.

"Sorry!!" Another person replied.

"Don't poke me with your broom!!"

"Eeep!! I go slightly towards my right then."

"Don't make so much noise. We're flying rather low and this might attract unnecessary attention." Remus told the group of hyper fifth and sixth years.

"Okay."

"The person above me moves left please!! Your leg is kicking my head."

"Oops."

"This looks like a long tough night ahead." Lily told James. Both of them were leading the way. Remus and Stefanie were at the end. Sirius and Peter kept order at the left while Samantha and Joey on the right.

"Get your leg away!! It's polluting the air." Someone behind them called out.

"Your feet are polluting mine." Someone below replied.

"These don't seem like a good idea. Imagine the chaos the third and fourth-years are here." James replied.

"Ouch!! Don't fly so fast!!"

"Sorry!! I can't see you ahead."

"Maybe we should use the Fidelius Charm on the actual thing." Lily suggested.

"I was thinking around that as well. But for a trial, this isn't that bad."

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"What the hell are you doing??"

"Oops. What happened??"

"Your broom hit my face!!"

"Sorry!! I thought the person in front of me stopped."

"The Disillusioned Charm doesn't seem to be working the way we wanted it to." Stefanie told Remus, both of them were making sure no one stray off behind.

"I see what you mean." Remus ducked suddenly. "Hey, you in front don't stop suddenly."

"Sorry, Remus. I wasn't sure about the direction."

"Maybe we can try any charm. Or at least whoever flying should be able to see one another."

"I think that's true." It was Stefanie's turn to lower her broom. "Increase your speed a little to catch up." She told the student above her who was hovering very slowly.

"I'm afraid I might crash into someone ahead."

"Don't worry. Increase the speed a little. In fact you're lagging a little behind." The fifth year Ravenclaw flew slightly faster and Stefanie resumed her previous height.

"You okay??" Remus asked.

"Sure. Luckily we learnt about this in the last few Charms lesson."

"Otherwise – woah!!" Remus called out. "You, wrong direction!!" A straying student flew nearly off-track.

"Which way??"

"Turn to your right a little."

"Like this??"

"That's right."

"Don't fly too fast!!"

"Is this speed alright??"

"Yup. Keep it up."

"I think we should do something about this at our resting point." Stefanie told Remus. It was their responsibility to make sure all the students were well taken care of.

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"No worries. Sirius is here to protect you." Sirius was telling two of the fifth-years who were rather challenged by the idea of night flying.

"I don't know if I've the stamina. I'm not in the quidditch team-" The fifth-year girl said.

"Then after this event, you'll be the best Hufflepuff flier."

"Ok, concentrate. Don't bother so much about crashing or falling because that's not going to happen."

"Okay."

"Ouch!!"

"Oops!! Sorry."

"Don't slow down. The people behind might not see you."

"Ok, ok."

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"Careful!! Follow those in front." Samantha was telling the guy on her left.

"The problem is I can't see who is in front." The fifth-year Ravenclaw replied.

"I get what you mean. You'll get used to this." Joey replied. "Hey, you're flying too low." She dived down several meters to notify another straying student.

"Sorry, I can't really see who's ahead."

"We're here guiding you." Joey tried to get the fifth year upwards to join the rest. "Up fifth degrees, keep the speed."

"Wah!!" Another student above commented.

"Sorry!! Can't see you!!"

"It's okay."

"Are you two alright??" Joey asked in concern.

"No problem."

"Doing great."

"Good."