James walked into the dorm room and was immediately accosted by Sirius and Remus.

"Jamie boy," Sirius started, with a pleasant smile that spelled trouble on his face. "We have some interesting work for us to do. What say you?"

James scowled. "Why would I want to join you in your work when you're keeping secrets from me?"

"As if you aren't keeping secrets," Remus shot back, not even trying to placate him. That was Remus' attitude alright. "Besides, this is apparently fun work."

Remus sent Sirius a glare that should've killed Sirius on sight. That was one of Remus' assets – a mean glare and a sarcastic tongue to match it. Sirius didn't seem to be affected by any of it, but James knew Peter would be shaking if Remus directed such a glare at him. Not that Remus would glare at Peter, no one would.

"It is fun though!" Sirius protested, turning to Remus with an exasperated expression on his face. "We've already discussed this and established that as a fact."

"You have discussed it with yourself, so it is not a fact." Remus said, pulling out a piece of parchment and scribbling something on it. "Besides, your definition of fun is definitely skewed."

James sighed and sat on his bed. "This better not be a complete waste of my time, fellas. What do you need my help for?"

Sirius gestured to Remus to speak, but Remus was studiously ignoring him now. James had no idea what the two of them were planning, but he doubted he would get to know anything at this rate. Sirius fell back on his bed, and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Okay," James shrugged. "I'm going to bed, since neither of you seem inclined to tell me anything."

He got ready for bed, ignoring the vigorous hand gestures Sirius was making and the way Remus was glaring at both of them. It wasn't until Peter walked into the dorm room, holding a bowl of ice cream that the two of them stopped messing around with each other.

"Petey!" Sirius exclaimed gleefully, sitting up and reaching for the bowl. "Did you get ice cream for me?"

Peter looked at him, unimpressed. "I never get ice cream for you, Sirius. That's a privilege reserved for James."

Sirius flopped back onto the bed with a pout. "Very well, I suppose if everything is for Jamie boy, I might as well tell him my brilliant plan."

Remus snorted, but didn't interrupt as Sirius continued speaking. "So, Jamie boy, see we have this idea that we think we can complete, except we need some books from outside Hogwarts."

James sent him an unimpressed look. "Then owl order it."

It occurred to him a second later that they would have owl ordered it, and the only reason they were talking to him about it was because they couldn't. And the only reason they couldn't, was because it was banned and Filch was a stickler to the rules.

James groaned. "You want to get something illegal."

"I wouldn't say illegal," Sirius amended. "More like, borderline. Besides it's just two books and I've already ordered them. I just need to pick it up from Borgins."

James dropped his head into his hands, wondering why he would agree to this. He shouldn't, not just was it extremely illegal, it was also a breach of his parents' trust. But at the same time, he knew that he was going to do it. Why did Sirius convince him to do the most dangerous things? And why did he let Sirius convince him?

"Dear lord, you're actually agreeing to this!" Peter exclaimed, licking the ice cream off his lips. "I can't believe it."

James wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not, but he didn't want to deal with it.

"Sunday. We'll do it on Sunday, but you have to tell me what you're doing." James said, knowing that this was going to end up so badly. "And I'm going to kill you if this goes wrong."

Sirius beamed at him. "You have a deal!"

James stood at the edge of Knockturn alley under his invisibility cloak. He didn't understand how Sirius' plan of 'walk into the store, get the books and get out' was even a plan, but that's what they were doing. Remus was standing on the other end of the alley and Peter was sitting in Sirius' pocket. If all went to plan, they would be back at the castle in time for dinner.

James had to wait for over half an hour before Sirius scampered out of the shop. He cast a panicked glance around the alley and then glanced around, searching for him.

"Here," James hissed, pulling Sirius under the cloak when he was close enough. The two of them ducked down, hoping that the cloak covered their legs. They were too tall for this kind of sleuthing. "What's gotten into you?"

Sirius scowled at him and whispered back. "Cissy's here, with Malfoy!"

"Your cousin Narcissa? Isn't she supposed to be in school?"

"We're supposed to be in school as well, moron!"

"Fair enough!" James grumbled.

He kept watch on the alley, waiting for the coast to clear. There were a lot of people out and that's what they had relied on, except now it was just causing more problems because people didn't just appear from thin air. Not even in Knockturn Alley.

"Shit!" James exclaimed, eyes widening as he saw the bright red hair. "What is she doing here?"

"Who?" Sirius asked, not bothering to turn his head to look. "Jamie, who are you talking about?"

"Evans."

"Lily Evans?" Sirius spoke, voice hushed but intrigued. "What is Lily Evans doing here?"

"How should I know, Sirius?"

"You're a little obsessed with her, last I remember. Especially since you've been quoting the whole 'Lily seems different now, she's behaving oddly' thing at us for the past few weeks."

"Shut up!" James said, watching as Lily walked into a shop.

He had lied to Sirius. Lily didn't look like herself, she looked slightly different. Her hair was darker and shorter, falling into her eyes, which hadn't been green. Her facial structure was also slightly different, her nose too flat and her lips turned upwards. But James could see the way she held herself and walked was exactly the same. The way she glared and scowled, and turned up her nose. She walked into a shop, and James lost track of her.

"Are you done ogling Evans?" Sirius asked, looking up from the books he was examining. "We have a slight problem."

James stifled his groan. "What?"

"The books are counterfeit. Borgin lied and I need to get the originals, since this copy is of no use to us." Sirius said, scowling.

"You haven't told me what you're planning to do yet." James said, shaking his head to dissuade Sirius. "We're heading right back to Hogwarts since you didn't hold up your end of the bargain."

"Oh please, you did this cause you thought it would be fun."

"Yeah, I did, but I also need a valid reason to stay here for any longer, because I don't want to get caught." James said, voice rising slightly. Lowering his volume, he continued, "Unless you can explain exactly what is going on, I'm not helping you."

Sirius didn't doubt his words. "We're trying to find the most illegal spells and curses and classify them." At James' dubious expression, he muttered, "Remus is hyper fixated on it and I decided to help."

James didn't believe him, simply because Sirius got obsessed with stuff like this just as easily. Sirius was more likely to use the information as well, so James wasn't sure where he got the idea to just pretend otherwise. Sirius didn't meet his eyes as he continued, "Also, my grandfather wants the books after."

James' shoulders slumped. Sirius was infuriating when he didn't think his plans through, and while James could relate to the recklessness, he didn't understand why Sirius still spoke to anyone from his family. The Blacks were a mess that James didn't want to get into right then.

"Maybe next time you decide to be such a smart-ass, let me know first?" He said, and then forced himself into thinking of solutions. They certainly couldn't just walk around Knockturn without someone spotting them.

James caught sight of Lily again, her distasteful look as she walked out of the store. She looked annoyed with everyone, and James felt as a grin spread across his face. Not looking away from Lily, he patted Sirius' head instead of his shoulder, but he couldn't find it in himself to care.

"Siri, listen. Listen!"