James had just barely started with his steak when Lily appeared by his side. She touched him on the shoulder to get his attention and leaned in very close to his ear.

'We need to talk after dinner,' she whispered. 'Meet me in the unused classroom on the second floor.'

Before James had the chance to reply she swept away and sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table, together with Alice, Frank and Mary. James was not sure what to think about her behaviour. He was quite sure that she had avoided him on the train.

'Evans seems rather jumpy today,' commented Sirius, looking after the redhead. 'It is the first day back after the Christmas holidays. What could she possibly worry about?'

'No idea,' said James truthfully. He had not properly talked to Lily since New Year's Eve and he was starting to get a bit worried. When they had woken on the first day of the New Year, she had been in quite a rush to get going. She had talked Marlene into dropping her off at her parents so that her excuse of staying at Marlene's place would be more believable. They had had to hurry, because Lily parents wanted her back in time for a family brunch. As school had started only a few days later, they had not been in contact via owl post. As a consequence, he was not sure how she was handling the loss of her virginity so far. The fact that she seemed worried all out of a sudden probably wasn't a good sign.

'Ah, it is probably something boring anyway,' said Sirius. 'Knowing her, she is stressing about whether her holiday homework is good enough or something equally dull.'

'Be nice, Sirius,' scolded Marlene. 'Lily is much more fun than you think she is. You just don't want to give up your impression of her as a bookish stick in the mud.'

'Well, she shouldn't act like one then,' said Sirius carelessly. 'I much prefer adventurous girls like you anyway.'

He bent over and gave her a small peck on the lips, which seemed to pacify her. James shook his head at his best mate. Sirius could be very charming if he wanted to be. Normally, his best mate preferred to burn all bridges when he was bored with a bird. James had gotten used to the cold and downright hurtful behaviour his best mate showed in these situations, so seeing him act in such an affectionate manner startled him. Remus seemed to share his surprise as he too was watching Sirius with a rather shocked expression on his face.

'Are you two sill not-dating each other?' James asked Sirius and Marlene casually. 'Or can I get away with calling you a couple by now?'

'Still not-dating,' said Sirius firmly.

'True,' said Marlene. 'Why do you ask?'

'Just checking,' said James while trying to keep his amusement from showing on his face. 'I thought that maybe something had changed over your shared holiday.'

'Why would we change anything?' asked Sirius. 'Things are fine just the way they are now.'

'Sirius is right,' said Marlene. 'We are just where we want to be.'

'Right,' said Remus. 'I suppose it is useless to point out that the two of you act like a couple in everything but name?'

'Completely,' said Sirius. 'You don't know what you are talking about after all.'

'I see,' said Remus. He and James exchanged a pointed look and decided to drop the issue. It was clear to them that Sirius and Marlene were rather fond of each other and were only so insistent about their supposed lack of a relationship, because both of them were afraid of commitment. Neither Remus nor James felt comfortable with addressing that topic though. Both Marlene and Sirius were rather sensitive about it after all. Besides, James had his own problems to worry about. He finished his steak quickly and opted to skip pudding today in favour of speaking with Lily earlier. He caught her eyes over the distance, made a comment about having to talk to her to his friends and left the hall. He slipped into the abandoned classroom she had been talking about a few minutes later. It did not take long for her to show up. She seemed rather frazzled when she closed the door behind her. A locking charm and a silence charm later she wheeled around to face him, her eyes oddly bright.

'You wanted to talk, right?' asked James. 'Are you alright?'

'Maybe, I am not sure yet,' she said. 'Do... do you remember New Year's Eve?'

'Naturally,' said James. 'I don't usual forgetting sleeping with someone.'

'Right,' said Lily. 'Well... if you remember closely, you might notice that we didn't use any protection.'

'Protection?'

'Yes, protection,' she snapped. 'You know, like a condom.'

'Oh, right,' said James, finally catching on. 'We don't really use condoms in the wizarding world. I only know what they are because Sirius liked to share that part of his Muggle Studies class. We rely on a contraceptive potion. I assumed that you were on the potion that night.'

'Well, I wasn't', said Lily and she looked rather distressed. 'And since the next day I have worried about the fact that I have been so careless. I might get pregnant! I am too young to get pregnant! What would my parents think? It is a nightmare! My life is ruined!'

'Whoa, relax,' said James. 'You are not going to get pregnant! I am on the potion myself, it is perfectly safe.'

'What?' said Lily, looking astonished. 'What potion?'

'There is a contraception potion for witches and one for wizards,' said James slowly. He could not believe that she didn't know about the male variant of the potion! While it had never been as popular as the female version, it was still a staple for many young wizards, especially for the ones who liked to switch their partners frequently. 'You didn't take any, but I took mine. Everything is going to be fine.'

She looked stunned for a moment, then she snapped back to attention and slapped him hard on the chest.

'You prat!' she snapped while looking immensely relieved at the same time. 'You could have told me that right away! Here I was, worrying about this for days and there was no problem all along!'

'I thought you knew,' said James. 'Do you really think I would deflower a girl while I am off the potion? I may be reckless, but I am not that reckless!'

'Hey, it was a reasonable assumption,' said Lily. 'Most wizards like to leave it to the ladies after all! Why haven't I heard about the male variant of the potion before?'

'Well, you are Muggle-born, so your parents could not tell you about it,' said James. 'And there are no classes teaching that stuff at Hogwarts. I thought your dorm mates might have told you. At least Marlene should know about that stuff.'

'All they have told me is to have some contraceptive potion ready in my trunk at all time,' said Lily. 'I have only taken it as a precaution as few times and did not have any at home on New Year's Eve which is way I forgot to take it in the first place. They never told me that there was a potion available for wizards as well! They only said that I should take care of contraception myself if I wanted to be sure that I was save.'

'That's good advice,' said James, grinning at her. 'Too bad it did not work out that way.'

'Shut up,' she said without malice. 'Tell me about the male contraceptive potion.'

'Well, in contrast to the more longer-lasting female one, it has to be taken twice daily to have an effect,' said James. 'Sirius and I use it every day, while Remus and Peter don't bother. It is rather common in pure-blood circles, but not so much in more... progressive cycles.'

'Really?' said Lily, looking interested. 'Why is that? Sounds like a good way to make sure you don't get some poor girl pregnant. There is nothing like that in the Muggle world and I think many Muggle men would love it. Why would some wizards not use it?'

'Using it is quite is a hassle,' said James. 'It has to be taken at the proper time, in the proper amount and it does taste vile. To make things worse, you have to take off a week from using it every two months, because it becomes toxic over chronic use. It is not exactly a pepper-up potion. If you forget a dose, you are instantly fertile again, so it is easy to slip up. So unless you have a good reason to be extra careful, many wizards don't bother with it.'

'I can see why Sirius needs a good contraceptive,' said Lily. 'He used to shag everything that moved after all, but you have never been that bad. How come you are using it then?'

'Because I have a rather forgetful girlfriend,' joked James. Lily slapped him lightly on the arm, but grinned at him nevertheless. 'Most because I am a wealthy pure-blood, I guess. And I like to be in control, so it is a rather natural fit.'

'What have your blood-status or your money have to do with it?'

'What do you think?' asked James. 'Getting yourself pregnant with some pure-blood's baby is the most reliable way to get him to marry you and receive a nice big chunk of his fortune in the process. Bastards are no big deal for most half-bloods, but they can still cause quite a scandal in the more traditional families. I have heard tales of families paying off the mother with huge sums of gold, so that she keeps quite about the whole thing and takes care of the baby on her own. It is not as rare as you think.'

'That's horrible,' said Lily, looking aghast at the very idea. 'Who in her right mind would be that manipulative? Just imagine only having a baby with someone just because you want to get a part of his money! That poor child!'

James was amused by her naiveté. He was quite sure that this kind of behaviour was not limited to wizards. Lily did not seem to pay attention to neither the Muggle nor the Wizarding tabloids. Otherwise, she would have encountered gold-digging women before.

'I agree, but it happens,' he said. 'Just think off William Hard, the seeker of the Appleby Arrows. If the tabloids can be believed, he got some witch he barely knew pregnant and they are bound to get married in a few months. I am willing to bet that she would have been more careful about getting pregnant if she had not snagged a filthy rich Quidditch player.'

'And he is going to marry her?' said Lily. 'Some person he doesn't know? Why would he do that?'

'I am not sure,' said James. 'Probably to save his image. He is only twenty-five, so he still wants to play for quite a while. Some of the more established Quidditch teams are hesitant to hire anyone with a bad reputation. Quidditch is a family sport after all. So, the Arrows and his manager probably pressured him into it.'

'Madness,' said Lily. 'I am just glad that you are taking contraception seriously. Our life is difficult enough without an unwanted pregnancy in the mix.'

'I am nothing but responsible,' said James dryly, causing Lily to snort. 'Now that we know that we are being safe, why don't we put that deliciously empty room to good use?'

'Hm...' she said, stepping closer to him and toying with his tie. 'And what exactly do you have in mind?'

'I think, you know very well what I have in mind,' said James, bending down to give her a scorching kiss. 'In fact, I think that desk over there has the perfect height to bend you over it so that I can have my way with you.'

'You are such a romantic,' she giggled, but she did not resist him. 'We have to be quick though: I told Marlene that I would join her and the rest of girls for some girl time later in the evening.'

'I can do quick,' said James and went to work.

A few weeks later, James was sitting in the library with Peter. While James preferred not to spend too much time there, Peter said it helped him concentrate. So, James had agreed to meet him here after Quidditch training to help him with a rather advanced transfiguration essay. He had not been looking forward to it. He was not a born tutor, especially in transfiguration, as he tended to make leaps and bounds in his explanations which someone without a very firm grasp of the subject could not understand. Naturally, this lead to a lot of frustration for both James and whomever he was tutoring. Remus was much better at this kind of work, but he was busy with his ancient runes essay and while Sirius was almost as good in transfiguration as James was, he had not patience whatsoever for their less gifted son. So, James had told Peter that he would proof read his essay and point out any errors, but that he didn't have the time to explain everything before Peter got to work in the first place. Peter had happily agreed ever thought that was not going to help him much if he was truly clueless. James had hoped that Peter would be able to understand most of the subject if he spent some times reading the theory, but one quick glance at the much too short essay dashed his hope. He started reading it and made annotations to it with his quill. Peter was watching him eagerly and James tried to keep his face blank to not dishearten him. He had known after the first few sentences that this essay could not be saved. A full rewrite was necessary if Peter wanted to get a passing grade.

'And, how is it?' asked Peter after quarter of an hour. 'Do you think it is enough for an A? I think I have gotten most about what McGonagall was saying about the limits of conjuration, but at some points I was not sure whether I had gotten them right. I still don't understand why you can't conjure food of all things. I mean, it an apple is much less complicated than a broomstick, but the it is impossible to conjure properly. It doesn't make any sense!'

'Technically, you are able to conjure an apple,' said James. 'It is just not edible. But I see what you mean. It seems illogical that we are able to conjure living creatures, but fail to produce anything edible.'

'Could you get around it by someone an animal and eat it instead?' asked Peter. 'You know, conjure something like a rabbit, kill it and prepare a meal from it.'

'No, you can't,' said James. 'First of all, conjured animals don't last for a long time, so you would have to eat it quickly before it disappears. And even if you managed to do that, it will not be edible either. Nothing you have conjured can be eaten. No matter what. Even if you only conjure the corn to make bread and use proper ingredients of the rest of it, it will be spoiled.'

'And McGonagall wants me to explain all of this is the essay?' asked Peter, looking surprised. 'I don't think I have mentioned it in that much detail. Let me see what annotations you have made already.'

He snatched back his essay before James could convince him to reconsider. He would have prepared to soften the blow before confronting Peter with the dismal state of his essay. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. Peter quickly scanned the essay and his face became more and more frustrated with every passing sentence.

'Bloody hell, I am going to have to rewrite that thing,' he moaned after having reached the end of James's annotations. 'And it is due the day after tomorrow! How am I going to get this done in time?'

'You could always skip divination,' said James. 'I don't know why you take that rubbish subject in the first place.'

'It is an easy pass,' said Peter. 'I am quite sure that most of it is rubbish, but just imagine how wonderful it would be to be able to predict the future! My great-grandfather was a seer, have I ever told you that?'

'No, you haven't,' said James. He was rather surprised at that piece of information. There was an abundance of people who claimed to be seers, but only very few true ones. The magical talent required for predicting the future was rare and James would not have suspected it in the Pettigrew family tree of all places. After all, Peter was many things, but he wasn't an extraordinary wizard. 'Was he officially recognized by the Ministry? My father once told me that the Ministry creates records of certain prophecies and stores them in a safe place. I wonder if any from your ancestor were recorded.'

'I am not sure,' said Peter. 'But it was a long time ago, back when the Ministry was not as powerful as it is today. So, it is rather unlikely that any records exist. In any case, no one in my family has ever been a seer again, so I guess it is about time that it produces another one. Maybe I will wake up one day and be able to predict the future.'

James considered that highly unlikely. He did not believe in fate and therefore found the whole idea of a predetermined future laughable. It did not help that Peter was one of the most mundane people he had ever met. He was not going to say that to Peter's face though. If his friend wanted to make Divination more interesting by pretending that he had some kind of talent for the stupid subject it was fine with him. He was not about to ridicule that dream.

'Well, if you are that talented in Divination then skipping it tomorrow will not set you back,' said James. 'You should seriously consider using the time for the transfiguration essay. Your last few weren't great and McGonagall is bound to put you in detention if you submit another subpar one. She has been serious about N.E.W.T.s after all.'

Peter paled at the thought of detention with their strict head of house. While he usually handled detention well enough if he was with the rest of the Marauders, singular detention was something else entirely. James had the distinct feeling that his small friend had never outgrown the fear of their transfiguration teacher.

'You are right, I think I am going to skip divination then,' said Peter. 'But I am calling it quits for tonight. I need some time to think about what I want to put in the essay. I will start first thing tomorrow. Thanks for the help, Prongs.'

'No problem,' said James. 'Are you heading back to Gryffindor tower?'

'Yeah,' said Peter. 'Are you coming as well?'

'I think, I am about to have a head meeting,' said James with a smile on his face. He had just spotted Lily making their way over to them. She was wearing her long red hair loose today and James appreciated the sight. He wondered why she was showing up though. They had not scheduled any regular head meeting and he had told her that he was going to help Peter tonight.

'Ah,' said Peter. 'I am going to leave you two to it then. I don't want to get in the way. I will see you back in the tower, James.'

He gathered his things quickly and scrambled off, leaving James alone with Lily.

'Well, well, well, if it isn't my favourite head-girl,' said James with a grin on his face. 'What can I do for you on this fine evening?'

'We have got to talk, in private,' said Lily quietly, as she said down opposite of him.

'Hardly the best place for it,' said James, gesturing at the busy library. 'Maybe we should go somewhere where we are alone.'

'Not going to happen,' she said. 'We spend too much time alone as it is: People are getting suspicious. Alice asked me just yesterday whether there was something going on between you and me.'

'And what did you say?' he asked. Maybe she had finally gotten over her ridiculous desire to keep their relationship a secret. Surely telling someone as pleasant as Alice was not going to do any harm.

'I denied everything of course,' said Lily, looking at him as though he was mad. 'I told her that it was only natural that we spent a lot of time together as we are co-heads. I think she believed me.'

'Thank god,' said James. He tried to keep his sarcasm from colouring his voice too much. He doubted that Lily would appreciate it. Personally, he didn't care about whatever suspicions anyone harboured with regards to Lily and him. He would be perfectly fine to go public with their relationship after all. Sadly, there had not been any movement in that regard since the term had started. Lily still refused to tell anyone even though her parents knew about their relationship by now. James did not understand what the problem was, but he knew her well enough to tell that she was not going to budge until she was ready. 'So, are we going to stay here?'

'Yes,' said Lily. She whipped out her wand and cast a Muffiliato to keep their conversation private. It was not ideal, but it would do. Still, James would have preferred to talk without an audience.

'Alright,' he said, 'what is it?'

'The full-moon will be in three days,' said Lily, keeping her voice so quiet that James had a hard time understanding her. 'Are you going to be gone for the night again?'

'Sure,' said James. 'Moony needs me.'

Lily pursed her lips. She did not seem happy with the answer.

'And you are still not going to tell me what exactly you and the others are doing?' she asked.

'That's right,' said James. 'Believe me, it is better for both of us if you don't know. It will keep everyone much safer.'

'Meaning that you don't trust me.'

'Not in this thing, I don't,' said James, hating this discussion already. 'I cannot trust anyone else with this particular secret.'

'Why?' she asked. 'What kind of secret could possibly that sensitive?'

'One I cannot tell you anything about without incriminating myself,' said James firmly. 'Just leave it alone, Lily. Knowing what we do will only put you in an uncomfortable position. You are better off not knowing. And don't even try discovering what we do by yourself! We have a lot of practice in doing what we do in secret. You will not learn anything and put yourself in danger in the process.'

'I can't just leave this alone,' protested Lily. 'I don't know what you are doing, but from what little you tell me it is illegal, dangerous or both. I am supposed to know about stuff like this!'

'Why?' asked James. 'There is nothing you can do about it and it will only harm you.'

'I am your girlfriend, I am supposed to help you with your problems, not just stand by and watch you putting yourself in danger,' said Lily.

James felt a warm wave of affection spread through him at these words. He never got tired of hearing her say that she was his girlfriend. However, his resolution to keep their animagus identity a secret from her did not waver. There was no way he was going to share a secret that big at this stage of their relationship. She had not even publically admitted that they were dating for Merlin's sake!

'I am glad you feel that way, but I am still not going to tell you,' he said calmly. 'I don't feel comfortable sharing this secret with you. Or with anybody for that matter.'

'I can't believe you are shutting me out like that!' said Lily, her eyes sparkling with anger.

'Can't you?' asked James, raising an eyebrow. He knew he was being a bit of a git, but her hypocrisy annoyed him nevertheless.

'What is that supposed to mean?' said Lily, bristling.

'You want me to tell you my biggest secret while you refuse to acknowledge to the rest of the castle that we are dating,' said James. 'That seems quite imbalanced to me, don't you agree?'

Lily opened her mouth to answer him, but closed it again without saying anything. It seemed that he had rendered her speechless for the first time in his life. Wordlessly, she stood up from the table and swept out of the room, an odd expression on her face. James was not sure that she was thinking right now, but he was rather glad that she was leaving.