James landed hard on his knees and struggled to catch his breath. Lily was still holding his hand, but she was crouched precariously, balancing despite the power with which the portkey had flung them through space. He could smell the melting chocolate from Honeydukes.

Letting his shoulders slump, he pushed himself to his feet and looked around. They hadn't calculated the portkey's location correctly, which wasn't much of a problem since they were still in Hogsmeade, and this was only their fifth try. It would've been infinitely better if they had landed in the Shrieking Shack though, much easier.

"Potter," Lily snapped, tugging her hand from his. He let it go, missing the warmth and flushing red at the thought of holding her hand. "Where are we? We need to get back to Hogwarts!"

James blinked a few times, then nodded. "We're near Honeydukes, so we can go from there."

Lily nodded, not questioning it and started walking towards Honeydukes. She didn't even glance at him and had dropped Peter from her shoulder. James followed her, walking a little slower than normal so Peter could transform back and catch up. They had to be careful, considering he didn't have his cloak and they weren't supposed to be in Hogsmeade.

"Lily," James said, curiosity overtaking him, "er… Evans, what were you doing in Knockturn Alley?"

Lily turned to him with a frown and a shrug. Her hair was turning bright red, and it looked like mud was being washed off her hair. Her transformation was wearing off. "It was a dare," was all she said, before turning back to the trail.

James was stuck on the fact that Lily hadn't even asked what he had been doing there, when Peter elbowed him. "Someone is coming," Peter whispered harshly. "Our portkey must have alerted them to our presence. We need to run!"

"What are you whispering about?" Lily asked, turning to them with sharp eyes. "If I get in trouble because of you…"

James didn't let her end the threat. "I won't let you get in trouble. Let's just go faster!"

They were about fifty meters from Honeydukes, when James heard the footsteps and the shouting. He wracked his brain, slowly piecing together a plan. With a panicked grimace at the way his last plan had gone, James pulled both of them behind the Honeydukes building and muttered, "Peter take Lily through the passage. I'll lead them off and catch up to you later."

Peter nodded, eyes wide in fear. He had been against this from the beginning, James remembered that. He had thought it was because Peter was just scared like that, but now he was sure that Peter just had more sense than them. After all, James' planning skills weren't the best and Sirius' ideas of safety and ease were not either. Remus just didn't care enough to stop them, or maybe he cared too much.

"Get back in one piece, James," Peter whispered back and gave him a strained smile. Then he was gone, ducking into the back door that was always open.

Lily turned to him with a considering look in her eyes. She nodded once, and then she was gone as well. James wasn't sure what to do with that interaction, but he could feel the giddy exhilaration interacting with Lily always left him with. Carefully keeping the smile off his face, he pulled out his wand and erased traces of two other people, making it seem like he was the only one there.

He ducked out from behind the building and casually walked towards the Three Broomsticks, which was the only establishment open on the street. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he breathed out a sigh of relief when he found he had a few galleons in his robe. He could fib and say that he was here for some drinks, and he had the money to buy those drinks now.

He had just turned onto the street to get to the Three Broomsticks when he almost crashed into someone. Looking up slightly, he closed his eyes in sadness. It was just his luck that he would run into Professor McGonagall on an outing like this.

"Hello professor," he said, pasting a wide grin on his face. "Fancy seeing you out here!"

"Mr. Potter, I didn't know it was a Hogsmeade weekend?" She replied, eyes him like he was a particularly distasteful dish.

He shrugged, resisting the urge to shift. That would do no good to assuage anyone of his innocence. Besides he needed to buy enough time for Peter to get Lily back into the castle. Sirius and Remus could figure out their way back themselves, and James knew that Sirius wasn't above bribing people into helping him.

"It's a nice day, professor." He said instead. "I decided to get some drinks."

She didn't look very convinced, but she also didn't look like she was going to accuse him of wandering into Knockturn Alley, so James took it as a win.

"Follow me, Mr. Potter. There are some things we must discuss."

James shuddered, hoping the ground would eat him up. He should have gone after Sirius instead of Remus, then maybe he wouldn't be in this situation. With a forlorn nod, he followed McGonagall, since he didn't really have much of a choice there.

Peter and Lily should have reached the stairs leading up to the third floor by now, so James didn't slow his pace too much. He was still tired from the day's excursions though, and McGonagall noticed his lagging. She didn't say anything, which surprised him.

"Say professor, what were you doing outside?" James asked, to break the monotony of the walk. "I thought you had a meeting today."

McGonagall shot him a considering look. "Something interrupted my meeting, Mr. Potter, and since I've found you, it's all the more convenient."

"Right."

James wasn't sure how it was convenient, but he wasn't questioning it. McGonagall didn't seem like she was in a talking mood, and further questions would probably lead to him in detention until he left Hogwarts after his NEWTs. James wouldn't even put it past her.

He needed an excuse for being tired and being out, and as the best liar of the group, he was certain he could wrangle up a story. Suppressing a grumble, James trudged through the school gates. This was going to take a while.

James was ready to bang his head against the wall. Multiple times.

His father, sitting on the opposite side of the short table, looked like he wanted to jump out of the window. James wouldn't blame him.

The third person in their little meet-up, Professor McGonagall, looked much too pleased with herself, and that stopped any homicidal and suicidal plans that were running through his head. James refused to give McGonagall the pleasure of removing himself from her existence, even if she claimed it would make her happier and would increase her life expectancy. He knew for a fact that he was the best thing that happened in this miserable school where people didn't have a good sense of humor. Well, almost everyone.

"Hey, dad," James said, waving slightly to get rid of the tense feeling. Today was really, really not his day at all. "How's it going?"

His father stared at him, the beginnings of a frown marring his face. This was so not going well. "What was the interruption for, Min – Professor?" Fleamont asked, choosing to ignore James' awkward greeting. Which, well, fair. He would've ignored it too, because he couldn't deal with awkwardness either.

"Ah," McGonagall said, with a smile on her lips. James inched away slowly, knowing that McGonagall smiling never meant anything good for him. "That would be your son, Mr. Potter. It would seem that he is following your rule breaking. Imagine my surprise when I found him walking around Hogsmeade."

"Well done, Jamie!" Fleamont reached across the table to ruffle his hair. "What were you out for? Did you get it?"

His father grinned brightly at him, and James had to stifle a laugh at his proud look. McGonagall didn't look pleased, or surprised. He smiled back at his father and shook his head. "Minnie caught me before I could do much, dad." He placed a hand on his chest and sighed. "It was such a nice day too, and I just wanted some butterbeer."

Fleamont nodded seriously. "Of course, I understand that. Although you did get a nice walk at least!"

"Yeah."

James strictly did not think about how he had been running around Knockturn alley to procure illegal books for something he didn't even care for. Or the fact that he didn't have his cloak right now, and if his father asked for it, things were going to get uncomfortable and fast. Especially because Sirius and Remus were with said cloak, and he didn't know if they were safe and fine yet. Yeah, not thinking about any of that.

"Hey, dad," James interrupted, "what are you doing here? I'm sure you aren't in detention, right?"

Fleamont laughed. "I think I outgrew detention a while ago, although I'm glad I can never get in detention again."

James grinned. His father would have gotten into detention a lot. Not as much as him; James knew that he had outdone his father's detention record sometime last year and his father had been both proud and amused at that.

"But to answer your question, I was here to request a leave for you, sometime in early March." Fleamont interrupted his thoughts. James didn't ask why his father was here this early in the year for that. His mother had probably forced it before anyone forgot.

James frowned in confusion. "Why would you need to pull me from class?"

"Not from class," Fleamont shook his head desperately and James assumed that this was an argument that he had with his mother, because she was the only person who got his father to react like this. "Just from school for an entire weekend."

"Right," James agreed.

"It's for the thing," his father clarified.

"Right."

James nodded more surely this time. The thing was an important ceremony or ritual or something that heirs to pureblood families went through sometime near their 16th birthday, and James' birthday was soon. It was a special sort of sweet sixteenth that was celebrated, and it wasn't uncommon for heirs to just disappear from school. Sirius would also do it, and maybe even Peter, but James was more concerned about his.

"Well, that's cool." James said, not even forcing the enthusiasm. "If that's all, I could go back to the common room, right?"

"Sure," his father said.

McGonagall frowned. "You aren't getting out of detention that easily, Mr. Potter. Be at my office tomorrow at 8 pm, please."

James sighed. "Yes, Professor. Bye dad, I'll see you soon!"

"Have fun, James!"

He smirked as he left the room, laughter bubbling up at the thought of McGonagall's reaction to his father's statement. He didn't even notice that he had reached the common room, too consumed in his thoughts about what his ceremony would be like, until Sirius' obnoxiously loud voice reached him.

"Hey there, Jamie! What sort of punishment are you dealing with?"

James' grin brightened. "Minnie was too distracted to specify!"

Sirius laughed, thumping his back and pulling him up to their dorm room with an arm around his neck. "Thanks for helping, Jamie," Sirius whispered, quiet amid the chaos of the room.

James shook his head. "Anytime, Sirius. Anytime."