New chapter... please review!

Last time on the Snitch of Secrets...

Mary had rushed out into the grounds to find Potter. He was sat by the lake with Black, Lupin and Pettigrew when she finally found him. "Potter, can I have a word?"

"Yeah sure!" Potter stood up and followed Mary away from his friends.

"Potter, Kate, you know Kate right? Kate Stone?"

"Yeah, of course I do! What about her?" James smiled.

"She likes you! Will you go out with her?" Mary squealed.

"Er… I don't really know her yet. We've only been here a week but I guess I could get to know her. I would say we could go on a date but we can't leave the castle so that won't really work… but yeah a girlfriend might be fun to have around." He laughed at his own joke before ruffling his hair, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Cool, I'll let her know." Mary said before walking away, back towards the castle.

The weeks following their first week at Hogwarts proved to be uneventful for the Gryffindors. James spent most of his time either with his new best friends; Sirius, Remus and Peter or with his new girlfriend, Kate. The weather had been really great, so most of his time was either spent down by the black lake or on a broom stick. He had successfully managed to avoid the Slytherins. Well, all except Snape, who he had managed to jinx a few times in the corridors between class. James and Sirius had played several practical jokes on their fellow students and were beginning to get a bit of a name for themselves. They had had detention several times and were constantly loosing points. Most of the girls seemed to like James and Sirius; whenever the boys walked through the corridors there would be an outburst of whispering and giggling. The boys pretended they didn't notice but they enjoyed the attention quite a lot. Lily was the only girl who seemed immune to their charm. Every time they did something funny or got attention for anything for that matter, she would become exasperated and often stormed off.

James had taken to ignoring her. He couldn't understand why she had taken a dislike to him. It was becoming more difficult though because he was spending more time with her friends because of Kate. He tried to be polite to her but everything he said seemed to be taken the wrong way. Lily had focused on her homework, choosing to spend most of her time in the library. Marlene and Mary had joked, saying "how much worse will she be when we have our exams at the end of the year?"

Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Head Boy had arranged a party in the Gryffindor common room to celebrate the house's Quidditch victory against Slytherin. He had gone down to the kitchen to get some food from the house elves. James and Sirius had managed to get him to take them along. They had been exploring the castle at night and they were beginning to think that they knew it better than most of the students and potentially even more than some of the staff.

Following the muggle disappearances in the first week, there had been several attacks on muggles living in London. It had been very unusual. Several of the victims had been killed behind locked doors that showed no sign of entry. Others had been traumatised and were recovering in St Mungo's. At the beginning of October, Charlus Potter had issued a statement:

"We, at the auror's office are doing everything in our power to find those responsible. I promise you we will find the witches and wizards committing these heinous crimes and they will be punished accordingly. I would like to take this opportunity to say that all humanity is equal regardless of their blood. A muggle is no less important than a wizard. A half-blood is no less valuable than a pure-blood. There are those who would have you believe that the purity of your blood matters. They are wrong. What matters is loyalty; loyalty to the whole of humanity. Let us unite. Let us unite and stand for loyalty and equality. Because we are always stronger when we stand united. It is time to stand up for the voiceless."

Lily had been quite impressed by Mr Potter's words, not that she'd ever tell James. Charlus had received several death threats and angry letters from pure-blood witches and wizards. He had written to James to warn him to be extra cautious and so far James had heeded his warning. Every day the Gryffindors checked the prophet for new reports of dead muggles. Lily and Mary were particularly scared. Lily was scared for her entire muggle family whilst Mary was worried for her muggle mother. James appeared to not be bothered by the disappearances and attacks. Lily found this incredibly infuriating. Whilst the other students searched the paper for a name they recognised, he made out with Kate. Nothing seemed to faze him.

September and October had flown by. The students were having a much earned break – half term. Even Lily and Remus had managed to put their books away. The weather was beginning to change so more of their time was spent in doors by the common room fire playing wizarding chess and exploding snap. Lily had managed to find time to go walking with Severus and it felt like old times again. The Gryffindor students were incredibly excited. Tonight was the Halloween feast. They had heard rumours from previous students that it was the best feast of the year. James and Sirius had managed to find a secret tunnel out of the school. The tunnel took them straight into Hogsmeade. They had returned with butterbeer and a collection of magical sweets, from Honeydukes. The four boys hid all the sweets and drinks in their dormitory. They were planning a party for after the feast. Kate and Marlene had decorated the common room accordingly and all the Gryffindors were getting more and more excited.

The feast was spectacular with magical bats zooming above their heads and cob webs dangling from the ceiling. The prefects had done a great job of decorating the Great Hall. There were skeletons and giant spiders and several zombies walking in between the tables. A few Hufflepuff girls had screamed at the sight and one had actually fainted.

When the boys were full, they began to make their way up the stairs to the common room. On their way they ran into Snape. When he saw them, he snidely asked, "what do you want?"

"I want you to get out my way," James replied.

"Come on James, let's just go." Remus tried to interject.

Snape pulled out his wand and began to cast a spell. Luckily, Lily walked around the corner at that exact moment, "Sev! What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all Lils." He said, putting his wand back in his pocket.

Lily frowned at him as he turned around to leave. Once he was out of earshot, she turned on the four boys before her, "what did you do?"

"Why has it always got to be us that have done something? Isn't it proof enough that he is in Slytherin? What more do you need before you'll accept that he's the baddy not me." James countered.

"You're wrong. He is sweet and kind. But you're just arrogant!" She said before storming off.

"I'll never get used to her!" James said to his friends, feeling suddenly very tired.

The party was a complete success. James was sat by the fire with Kate on his lap when Lily came over to talk to Kate and Alice. "Where did all of this stuff come from?" she asked.

"Erm… James and Sirius broke out of the castle to go buy it from Hogsmeade…" Kate explained.

"Shush! Don't tell Evans. She'll tell McGonagall."James said.

"I will not! You… you… you marauder you!" Lily responded.

Sirius, who had joined the conversation mid-way through, said "you know, I kind of like it! The Marauders! It has a ring to it!"

The group burst out laughing as Lily stomped her feet, "Only you, Black, could actually like being compared to a pirate!"

So what do you think? Please review...

Next chapter...

We're going to give Lily a chance to show off...

Some bad news from the world outside of Hogwarts...

A prank or two...

Some more of James and Kate...

Maybe a bit of flirting between two other characters...