Right! Let me know what you think...

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!"

The following morning, the Gryffindors made their way down to breakfast together. James with his arm around Kate, was talking animatedly to Sirius. As they entered the Great Hall, there seemed to be a nervous tension in the air. James raised his eyebrow at Sirius and Remus, questioningly. Sirius shrugged his shoulders, whilst Remus shook his head. Neither of them understood. When they sat down, they realised that the post had already been. There were several owls waiting for them. James quickly set to reading his post; he had a letter from his mother and a copy of the daily prophet. He started off reading his mother's letter. Kate grabbed the prophet out from under his letter and began scanning the page. James heard her moan slightly so he tore his eyes from his mother's letter to look at her. Her face was horror-struck; her mouth opening and closing of its own accord, not saying a word. He grabbed the paper from her and pulled her into an embrace as he read the front page, "In the name of Merlin!"

He began to read out loud for his fellow Gryffindor that didn't have a copy of the wizarding paper; "Yesterday masked, dark wizards attacked the muggle post office tower in the centre of London. The obliviators have been working tirelessly since, trying desperately to prevent the non-magical world becoming aware of our existence. Mr Potter, head of the auror office believes that those responsible are an anti-muggle-born militant group who "need to be stopped before they do anymore harm." Luckily no one was killed. Several muggles were heavily injured and are currently undergoing treatment at St Mungo's. When asked, the Minister for Magic had very little to say on the matter, simply shaking his head and saying, "very sad news, very sad news indeed." If Mr Potter is correct then one must ask several questions: Number one, what aren't the ministry telling us? Number two, who is this new militant group of extremists? And third, why isn't the ministry doing more? Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore said that he believes there is a rising amongst the pure-blood families. That several of them have found a new leader and that all too soon he fears we will be at war once again. For many of us it feels like only yesterday that we were all living in fear of Grindelwald."

James groaned, "crap! This isn't good." He looked up to the head table where Dumbledore was sat conversing with the other teachers. Dumbledore caught his eye and James was sure that in some quiet place inside his mind he heard Dumbledore's voice, "Don't make a fuss. We don't want people to worry."

There was a heaviness in the atmosphere as the Gryffindors tried to focus on enjoying the last day of their half term. They spent hours sitting by the fire in the common room. Lily had gone out to see Snape, and James and Sirius were arguing with the rest of the Gryffindor first years. "I just refuse to think that there is absolutely nothing we can do!" James sounded infuriated.

"I know you want to help, sweetheart. But there is nothing you can do. You're a first year for crying out loud. The best you could do is go and get yourself killed and what good would that do?" Kate asked, patiently.

"I refuse to sit here and watch as innocent people die. I won't do it!" James answered her.

Sirius nodded in agreement, "Hear, hear!"

Kate grew irritated and simply sighed in response. Alice looked at James and smiled a very sad smile, "But James, this isn't about everyone else is it? It isn't about the innocent people, is it?"

"What do you mean Alice? Of course it is. Who else could it be about?" James responded, completely dumbfounded.

"You're worried. You're worried about your dad and rightly so I might add. And you feel guilty because for your whole life you have been taught that it is when we are united that we are strong and yet here you are miles away from your closest allies in the moment when you think they need you most."

Alice smiled, "But James, they don't need you with them. They need to know that you are safe. How many times did they tell us when we were younger to protect one another? That's what they want! They want us to protect one another, to protect our friends… not looking for trouble… but simply meeting it with courage when it finds us. Keep me safe, James. Keep your word."

She had him there. How many times had his parents told him to protect Alice. He couldn't disobey them now.

In the weeks that passed after the post office tower attack several things happened. James had received multiple letters from his mother telling him to be careful and not to get himself in any trouble. James thought she was asking a bit much, after all his name was James Potter. James devoted most of his time to antagonising the Slytherins; tripping them up in the hallways and jinxing them any chance he got. He was infuriated that there was nothing he could do to help with the situation outside the castle so he'd decided that he would make Voldemort's followers inside the castle pay. He hadn't seen Bellatrix yet, but he was waiting…

James and Sirius had particularly enjoyed tormenting Snape, "Oh Snivellus!" they would call him names in the corridor, throw things at him in class and jinx him in the great hall. It was amazing that the teachers hadn't caught them yet. Sadly, Lily had. "Why won't you just leave him alone?"

"Because he's a Slytherin. That makes him scum!" James replied.

"You're no better than those Slytherins, you hate so much. You say how prejudiced they are but your no different. The only difference is you attack them and they attack someone else!"

"No Evans. You're wrong. The only difference is I attack them – wizards who can fight back, who have wands, they attack innocent muggles – muggles who can't fight back, have no means of protecting themselves, muggles like your parents. That's the difference." James said calmly before walking away, towards his next lesson.

The teachers were beginning to recognise Lily's magical ability. Particularly, Professor Slughorn and Professor Flitwick. She was quickly becoming their favourite student. She was always polite, always had her homework in on time, and she was superbly talented. In an attempt to avoid Potter, Lily had started sitting with Snape in class instead of her Gryffindor friends. The Gryffindors had spent many a night by mid-October trying desperately to understand why she was his friend but to no avail. As of yet they could honestly say they did not have any idea why a girl like Lily Evans would ever befriend someone like him.

Because James and Kate were spending such a lot of their time together, Sirius and Marlene were often forced into each other's company not that either of them complained. On several occasions, the four of them had spent an evening together away from the rest of their friends. James was pretty certain that Sirius liked Marlene and Kate knew that Marlene like Sirius. James and Kate put a lot of effort into trying to get the two of them into a relationship. Although, so far it didn't seem to be working. They would flirt briefly before pulling away from each other completely for a few days. James and Kate found their friends thoroughly entertaining.

Anyhow, thanks for reading! Hope you liked it...

Next chapter...

We might spend a bit more time with Hagrid...

Maybe a Quidditch match...

The lead up to Christmas... What about Sirius... Can he go home?