Thursday, 1st February 1973

Remus couldn't say he got much sleep that night. Despite enlarging the sofa in the Den as much as the space allowed, it was still a tight fit, and he spent much of the night shifting around to find a comfortable position while simultaneously trying not to disturb Sirius. James, on the other hand, slept in solitary comfort on the other sofa, letting out the occasional snort or grunt as he rolled over.

'Where're you going?' Sirius mumbled when Remus finally gave up on sleeping and rolled to his feet. It was approaching six in the morning, and if he finally did manage to fall asleep, he'd only feel worse waking up after a mere hour.

'Check on Pete.'

Sirius groaned, rolled onto his back, stretching, before sitting up. 'Time is it?'

'Almost six.'

Sirius groaned again and flopped back down, burrowing into the blankets. 'Did you get any sleep?'

'Don't think so. Maybe a few minutes here and there.' Remus crouched down beside Peter. He was fast asleep and had rolled onto his back during the night, but the sheet still covered him up to his chest. 'Lumos,' Remus muttered, gripping his wand and pushing the barest smidgen of power into his casting. He wanted to see. Not to wake Peter with blinding light.

The tip of his wand glowed a gentle blue, and he directed the light to pass across Peter's bare shoulders, avoiding his face. His body was still smeared with the orange burn paste—appearing brown under the blue light, like melted chocolate—but the skin Remus was able to see looked healed. The more sleep he got, the better, though. So, rising back to his feet, Remus moved away and joined Sirius back on the sofa.

'He looks good,'

'Thank the gods.' Sirius kissed him and pulled him down to lie beside him, wrapping his arms around him.

'We need to make a plan, so nothing like this happens again.'

Sirius groaned into the back of his neck. 'Can't it wait until after breakfast? I need tea first. Have mercy, Moons.'

Remus chuckled. 'It can wait until you've had tea.'

'You're truly a god amongst men, Moony.' Sirius tightened his hold on Remus' waist, pulling him closer. 'And you make the best teddy bear.'

Remus must have dozed off because the next thing he knew, James was shaking him. 'Come on, Moony. Time to wake up.'

'I'm awake. I'm awake.'

James moved away to do Merlin knows what, and Remus climbed to his feet, pulling Sirius up after him. They moved around the room quietly, packing everything away, and didn't wake Peter until they were ready to go.

He blinked up at them blearily for a few seconds, before seeming to remember the events of the night before and clutching the sheet to his chest.

'How are you feeling?' Remus asked.

'Naked.' Peter cleared his throat. 'Feeling very naked.'

Sirius laughed. 'Well, if you're worried about that, you must be feeling better.'

'Can we talk about this when I'm wearing something more than a bedsheet?'

James tossed him a set of pyjamas. 'Here. We'll wait outside. Shout when you're done.'

The invisibility cloak did its duty and got them back to the privacy of the dorm without a hitch. And Peter was quick to disappear into the bathroom for a much-needed shower to wash off the remains of the burn healing paste.

'Is everything healed?' Remus asked, looking up from packing his bag for the day when Peter emerged in a cloud of steam. His skin was rather pinker than usual, but Remus was relieved to see no signs of scarring on the visible parts of his body.

'There're a few spots that could use another treatment,' Peter said. 'Mostly on my back. I guess I smeared the paste? But I'm alright.'

Sirius bounded over to him and wrapped him in a hug, pressing Peter's face into his chest. 'Don't you ever scare me like that again!'

Peter sniffed. 'I…'

Sirius pushed him back and looked down into his eyes. 'I thought you were going to die in there, with us trapped outside.'

'So did I,' Peter said. 'If you hadn't come when you did… I was about to give up when I heard you through the door.'

Remus stood up and walked over then, pulling Peter into his own hug. 'I'm so glad we got there in time. You were so brave. I don't know how you managed to get to the door.'

'Well, don't be leaving me out,' James said, throwing his arms around both of them.

Sirius laughed, launching himself on top of the huddle. 'Group hug!'

It only lasted a moment before Peter cried out, 'Alright, alright. I'm still a bit delicate here.'

'Shit, sorry, mate,' Sirius said, backing up.

They released Peter, and Remus straightened the collar of his robes, looking him over critically. 'You look a bit pink, but I don't think anyone will notice if they're not looking for it.'

Herbology was the first class of the day, though, and honestly, everyone looked a bit pink after a few minutes in the humid greenhouses; Peter blended right in. Remus watched him carefully through the lesson, but he didn't seem to have any lasting problems from his injuries. He was moving normally, breathing normally, and seemed to have the most energy out of all of them. Still, Remus couldn't shift the guilt weighing in his stomach, because Peter had hurt himself while working on a potion for Remus.

The moment class was over, he pulled his friends aside. 'I'm calling a meeting.'

'Thought you might,' James said with a nod. 'Alright. Dorm?'

They had two hours until Defence, so they grabbed some snacks from the Hall and made the laborious trip up to the seventh floor.

'Why weren't you wearing your robes?' was Remus' first question once they'd all seated themselves on Peter's bed.

Peter sighed, covering his face with his hands. 'I left them in the dorm, and I couldn't be bothered to come back for them.'

'Pete!' James groaned.

'I know, I know.' Peter dropped his hands. 'It was stupid, but I've not blown up a cauldron for years.'

'Well, you won't be making that mistake again. As Chief of Safety, I hereby forbid anyone to brew without protective robes.'

James scribbled something in the Marauder's Journal. 'Noted,' he said.

'The worst part was not being able to get in to help,' Sirius said. 'If Pete hadn't got the door open…'

Remus nodded. 'Yeah, that was my next point. I think if we're doing something potentially dangerous, at least one of us should be elsewhere with the Knife.'

'Never put all of us in danger at the same time?' Sirius said, nodding. 'Makes sense.'

'If we'd all been in there when the cauldron exploded, we would've been screwed. I might have healed fast enough to help the rest of you, but I've never actually been seriously burned, so I'm not sure.'

'Well, let's not test that one,' James said, writing the new rule in the book.

Remus laughed. 'Agreed.'

'Do you know what went wrong with it?' Sirius asked, looking at Peter.

Peter opened his mouth, but didn't say anything for a moment, until, 'I overheated it.'

Remus raised his eyebrows. 'You? How on earth did that happen?'

Again, there was a really long pause before Peter answered with a vague, 'Don't know. Must have been distracted.'

But that made no sense. Nothing distracted Peter when he was brewing. You could dance naked on his desk, and he'd ignore you completely. Not that Remus had tested that. 'Right,' Remus said, trying to keep the internal doubt from his tone. 'In that case, I don't think you should be allowed to brew alone. You need someone there to keep an eye on things.'

Peter nodded. 'Yeah, that's fair.'

'I think that's everything,' Remus said.

'In that case, do you mind if I take over?' James asked.

'Go for it.'

'I'd like to discuss our plans for Valentine's day. What do you have?'

Remus grinned. 'I've been thinking about that. I'm thinking, something like our notebooks, right? We can set up a little private booth somewhere. Maybe one in each of the common rooms? With a sheet of parchment inside for people to write their messages on.'

'And how do they get to the recipient?' James asked.

'That's the best part,' Remus said, grinning even wider. 'I'll link them to a section of the wall in the Great Hall and use a timing charm to make them appear during mealtimes.'

'Behind the teacher's table,' Sirius suggested.

'That's what I was thinking, yeah.'

'I love it,' James said. 'Can you get that all set up in two weeks?'

'Yeah, easy. I think the booths should be available for a few days before. Maybe a week.'

Peter nodded. 'Yeah, some people might want to sneak in and do it at night.'

'What's stopping people going in right after you and seeing who your message is to?' Sirius asked.

'I'll make it so you can scroll it up, but not back down again.'

Sirius smirked. 'Clever.'

Third period was Defence, and Remus had a blast when he was called up to duel Robbins—the Ravenclaw that suggested all werewolves be killed during Professor Hawthorne's lesson. Remus would like to say he took no pleasure in humiliating the boy so thoroughly. He'd like to say he was above such things as petty revenge. But he'd be lying. Walking away from the twitching, dancing, disarmed bigot and handing his wand over to a smirking Professor Tenebris was a memory he would treasure for the rest of his life.

Sirius had an equally good time when he was called up to duel another Ravenclaw. Remus had no personal grudge against the girl, but it was enjoyable to watch Sirius wipe the floor with her, regardless. Though, he couldn't help but note James and Peter's relieved expressions when the lesson ended before either of them had a turn. Peculiar was an understatement.

He didn't get a chance to speak to Sirius about it until after Astronomy that night. While Peter had gladly disappeared behind his bed curtains after lunch for a nap, James claimed he'd slept well enough the night before and made himself comfortable on his bed with his Ancient Runes book, making a private conversation impossible. Considering how poorly Remus had slept, he hadn't minded too much, falling asleep almost the moment his head touched the pillow.

It had worked out in the end. James fell asleep quickly when they returned from their midnight class, and Remus wasn't surprised when Peter started snoring not long after. He had enough years of experience to attest to how draining accelerated healing was. His bed curtains parting moments later with Sirius climbing through the gap and into his bed was even less surprising.

'Hey, Moonbeam,' he whispered, giving Remus a kiss.

Remus decided the conversation could wait a few more minutes and kissed him back, reaching behind him to tug the curtains closed before pulling him down onto the mattress. It may have ended up being slightly longer than a few minutes before Remus finally pushed Sirius away. Possibly a lot longer. Remus wasn't sure. The important thing was, he did. Eventually.

'We need to talk about James and Peter.'

Sirius groaned and flopped back onto the bed. 'I know. You're right. But, I want it noted that I strongly objected to stopping the kissing.'

'Noted,' Remus said with a laugh, turning onto his side to face Sirius.

'What's on your mind?'

'Did you notice how relieved James and Peter looked when they didn't get asked to duel in Defence?'

Sirius shook his head. 'I wasn't looking. But that's one more weird thing in a long two weeks of weird things.'

'Right? I've been thinking about it, and I don't think I've seen either of them do any magic since the Ritual, apart from in classroom 12c.'

Sirius frowned. 'Are you sure?'

'I'm positive.'

'But…' Sirius trailed off and stared at the curtain behind Remus' head in silence for several seconds, then he blinked and looked back at Remus. 'No, because Pete would have needed to use magic to brew yesterday.'

'And he blew up the cauldron,' Remus said. 'Don't you think that's weird?'

'Yeah. That is weird. He said he was distracted, but that's even weirder.'

'Exactly! It's like they've lost control of their magic or something.'

'But why? How?'

Remus shrugged. 'I don't know. It's got to be something to do with the Ritual, though, right?'

Sirius nodded, slowly. 'Yeah… because they can do magic in classroom 12c… but why wouldn't they tell us?'

'Unless they can't.'

'Like a tongue-tying curse? Was there anything in the Journal about that?'

Remus shook his head. 'No. I already checked again in case I missed something, but there's nothing about it at all.'

Sirius frowned again. 'Right, that's it. I'm writing to the twins tomorrow.'

'Let's wait until the evening. Keep an eye on them in class and make sure I'm right first.'

'Yeah, they'll both have to duel in Defence tomorrow. If they don't, we'll know something's definitely wrong.' Sirius grinned. 'Now we have a plan, can we continue the kissing?'

'I think we should probably sleep.'

Sirius groaned. 'Why do you always have to be sensible?'

'It's a curse. Are you staying here, or..?'

'Of course, I'm staying here. Roll over.'

'Bossy,' Remus said, giving him a kiss before obeying.

Sirius cuddled up to his back and kissed his hair. 'Go to sleep.'

When James woke on Friday morning, he didn't move for a minute, listening for any sounds that would indicate Remus or Sirius were already awake. He couldn't hear anything but Peter's snores, but that wasn't enough to be sure. They could be doing any number of things in silence.

'I can't do magic,' he said out loud, and the words came easily. His tongue remained free and controllable. They were both still asleep. Perfect.

Reaching under his pillow, he pulled out the clean pair of socks he'd put there the night before—mentally thanking his past self for his consideration—and pulled them on before climbing out of bed. Feeling quite smug about his foresight, he crept across the room to Peter's bed without having to suffer the pain of bare feet on freezing cold stone and peeked inside the curtains. Peter was curled into a ball on his side, sleeping soundly with his mouth hanging open and there was plenty of room for another body beside him, so James pulled back the corner of the quilt and climbed in.

Peter grumbled at the movement of the mattress but didn't wake, so James leaned close to his face and blew gently, biting his lip to keep from laughing when Peter's hand appeared from beneath the quilt to swat the breeze away. It took two more times before Peter finally blinked his eyes open.

He peered at James in confusion for several seconds before speaking. 'I'm flattered, Sunshine, but you know I have a girlfriend.'

James waggled his eyebrows. 'Aw, go on, Bubbles. Just one snog. Mary won't mind.'

Peter laughed. 'Mary absolutely would mind.' He yawned and stretched before snuggling back down into the warmth. 'What do you want?'

'To know how you lit the firepit.'

'Ah. Yeah, I thought you might. I channelled the magic from my Snitch-O-Scope.'

James sat up. 'Of course! Why didn't I think of that?'

'Lie down,' Peter said, pulling on James' arm. 'You're letting the cold in.'

'Shit, sorry,' James lay back down, grinning at Peter. 'So it worked?'

'Yeah, until it ran out and turned back into sand. That's why the cauldron exploded.'

James frowned. 'Alright. So we'll need something with a lot of magic in it. But small enough to hide in a fist.'

'Like what?'

'I don't know. I need to think about it. But if we can find something…'

'Then no more detentions.'

'Exactly.' James grinned. 'Even if we can't find something this year, at least we can prepare for it next year. Get a bunch of pebbles or something and store some magic in them for the month. You're a genius, Bubbles.'

Peter smiled and hid his face in the pillow. 'It's too early for this.'

James chuckled. Peter never knew how to react to compliments. 'I'll let you go back to sleep, but I'm going to think of an excuse to get us away from the others first period, so play along, okay?'

'Yeah, sure.' He pulled the quilt tighter around his shoulders and nudged James with his foot. 'See you when it's actually morning?'

James leaned closer and dropped a kiss on his forehead. 'Yeah. Bye sleepy head.'

Back in his own bed, James contemplated the problem. What did he have that was small enough to hold in his hand, but contained enough magic to get them through classes? Not much, really. He had lots of enchanted items, but they were all too big to hide in his hand, except…

He crawled to the end of his bed and reached down to open his trunk, routing through the contents until he found what he was looking for. After closing his trunk back up, he grabbed his wand from his bedside table and settled back under the covers with the flat rectangular box.

James flicked the clasp open and lifted the lid to a chorus of, 'It's about time, good sir,' and, 'you'll never get good if you don't practice, you know.'

James rolled his eyes at the chess pieces. 'Yeah, I know. Can you be quiet, please?'

The small crystal men seemed outraged by that request, so James quickly grabbed one of the white knights, muffling its cries with his hand, and shut the lid to keep them from waking Remus and Sirius.

The figurine's voice, muffled but still understandable, continued to protest the rough treatment. 'Unhand me, you brute.'

'Shh,' James said, picking up his wand. 'This won't take a minute.'

Ignoring the irritated squeaks coming from his hand, James focused on the energy he could feel thrumming against his palm and attempted to draw on it. It was icy cold and extremely reluctant to obey him, but James was insistent and, after a moment, the magic relented. A shiver ran through him as the frigid power travelled through him to his wand arm, but he ignored it and concentrated. 'Lumos.'

His wand tip flared with golden light so bright it forced his eyes closed. 'Nox!' he blurted, drawing on the power embedded in the knight again. His wand went out and James opened his eyes and then his fist, inspecting the chess piece. It was still opening and closing its mouth but seemed to have lost the ability to speak. 'Well, that's useful. Let's see how many spells I can cast with you.' He pointed his wand at his pillow. 'Diffindo.' It split open, and he waved his wand again. 'Reparo.' The pillow sealed itself back up, good as new, and the knight in his hand stopped moving. He was able to repeat the process three more times before the chess piece turned into a shapeless hunk of quartz that was hot to the touch.

'About eight low-level spells, then,' he muttered to himself. 'And there are thirty-one more pieces, so that's… about three hundred total, or a hundred and fifty each.' It wouldn't be enough to last until they got their magic back, but it would get them through their duelling matches in Defence. James grabbed his notebook and added chess set x 3 to his list of things to buy, before turning back to the set on his bed. It took him a few minutes to cast and counter the Lighting charm with each of the thirty-one pieces, but eventually, he'd silenced them all.

Since they had a free period first thing on a Friday, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all slept in, making up for their poor sleep on Wednesday night. Luck was on his side, though, because Peter was the first of the three to emerge from the bathroom after showering and James was able to hand off half the chess pieces to him. 'Should get about eight spells out of each of them, less if they're higher level ones,' he whispered, wary of Remus' enhanced hearing.

Peter nodded, shoving eight of the figurines into each of his robe pockets. 'Brilliant. I was dreading Defence.'

'Yeah, me too. They get hot when you cast with them too fast, though. So you might want to switch out between spells.'

'Yeah, I'd rather not get burned again so soon,' Peter said with a chuckle.

'Gods, don't remind me.' James shuddered. Nothing would ever erase the memory of seeing Peter so badly hurt, but he could at least try not to think about it.

'Sorry,' Peter said. 'I don't know why I said that. I don't want to think about it either. I do want breakfast, though. What's taking them so long?'

'Good question,' James said, walking over to the bathroom door, which opened as he approached it.

Remus walked out, calling over his shoulder, 'Your hair looks fine, Twinkles. We're going to miss breakfast if you don't get a move on.'

'I'm coming. I'm coming. And there's still forty-five minutes, anyway. We won't miss it.' Sirius appeared in the doorway with the last words and grinned. 'Ready!'

'Finally,' James said.

Ten minutes later, they were seated in their usual seats at the end of Gryffindor's table and tucking in to a variety of breakfast foods. James had his usual cereal and fruit, and he frowned at Remus' plate of bacon and sausages. He knew he needed a high level of protein because of the amount of energy he expended every month, but surely that didn't mean he could go without the other food groups. Remus noticed him looking and rolled his eyes before scooping some beans onto the plate and raising his eyebrows in James' direction. James smiled at him and carried on eating without saying a word. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Peter grab a pear from the fruit bowl and bite into it, and his smile widened.

He was about to start pestering Sirius when a yellow flower dropped from the ceiling and landed in his cereal, quickly followed by several more landing in various spots across the table. James looked around to find the flowers were raining on all four House tables across the Great Hall.

'The Malediction?' he asked, picking the flower out of his bowl and frowning at it. 'Doesn't seem up to their usual standard.'

'Just one of them, I think,' Sirius said, lowering his voice. 'They're yellow tulips. Means Sunshine in your smile.'

James looked up at Sirius, grinning. 'She's answering.'

The tulips continued to fall until there were hundreds of them covering the tables, and then suddenly, all at once, they turned bright pink and changed shape into a different flower entirely.

'Hollyhock,' Sirius whispered. 'Ambition.'

A few seconds later, they changed again. This time into a flower James recognised from his own message, but he wasn't sure which word it represented.

'Truth,' Sirius told him, followed by, 'Victory,' when they changed into a fourth flower. When they changed for the fifth time, he laughed.

'What?' James asked. 'What are they?'

'White camellias. They mean you're adorable.'

James sat up a little straighter at that, his smile stretching so wide it was making his cheeks hurt. 'She's got that right.'

'Well,' Remus said when the flowers burst into a shower of white glitter. 'I think the message is pretty clear. She definitely likes Sunshine.'

'Shame they didn't think to protect the food, though,' Peter said, gazing sadly at his unfinished plate, which was now covered in glitter.

'You want to go grab something from the kitchen?' James asked him.

'No. I'll be alright.'

James wasn't convinced, but he didn't argue with him and they returned to Gryffindor Tower to pass the morning's free period in the common room with a game of Merlin's Adventure. The chess pieces worked perfectly in Charms, but James didn't miss the look that passed between Remus and Sirius when he and Peter did their fair share of the work during the final lesson on the Lowering charm, and he tried to suppress the guilt that welled up in his chest. It wasn't his fault he couldn't tell them what was going on.

He was nervous walking into Defence after lunch. Channelling the magic from the chess pieces worked, but it was slower than using his own magic. That didn't matter in most situations, but duelling relied heavily on speed, and he didn't want to make a fool of himself.

That desire only increased when he learned who his opponent was to be. It shouldn't have been as much of a surprise as it was. There were only a few students left who hadn't fought during the week, but despite knowing it was a possibility, James hadn't expected it to happen. Nevertheless, he entered the circle and took his position.

She nodded at him. 'Potter.'

'Evans,' he said, smiling at her before bowing.

She returned the gesture and took an attack stance. 'I hope you're ready to lose.'

James squeezed the chess piece in his hand a little harder and started to channel the magic into his wand as he responded with a wink. 'I never lose.'

He was going to have to be so careful. If he repeated anything he'd done when they'd fought last weekend, she might pick up on it. And it was way too soon for her to connect him with Sunshine. She'd be horrified if she worked it out so soon.

She laughed. 'There's a first time for everything. Flipendo! Depulso! Stupefy! Expelliarmus!'

Oh, for fuck's sake. Was that her signature move or something? Unable to drop to the floor like he normally would, James moved into the path of the Stunning charm as he threw up his shield and deflected the spell, letting the other three sail harmlessly past his ears. 'Nice try,' he called, stalling while he drew more power from the chess piece in his hand. 'Digitos wibbly.'

Evans dodged the spell easily. 'Is that all you've got, Potter?'

'Come on, James!' Sirius shouted from behind the shield protecting the class. 'Show her what you're made of!'

'Quiet, Mister Black,' Professor Tenebris reprimanded.

James grinned, pointing his wand at the floor under Evan's feet. 'Spongify.' The floor sagged beneath her, and she stumbled. James didn't waste a second in taking advantage of it, moving his wand up an inch to aim at her feet. 'Obstructio.'

The move worked flawlessly and Evans fell forwards, putting her left hand out to catch herself while keeping her wand trained on James with her right. 'Petrificus totalus,' she yelled as she landed on her knees.

James tried to dodge the spell, but he was too slow and it grazed his arm, causing his arms to snap to his sides and freezing him in place. He could feel himself falling backwards, but he focused on his core, finding Evans' invading magic easily. Her spell was nowhere near as powerful as Professor Tenebris' bodybinds, and James ejected it before he even hit the ground, giving him enough time to land on his ass instead of his back.

'Fumos.' A stream of smoke emerged from the tip of his wand, and he shaped it to cover him as he jumped back to his feet. While he was hidden from view, he took a moment to swap out the chess piece in his hand with a fresh one.

The smoke cleared as Evans cast the counter charm and followed it up with a 'Brachiabindo!'

James couldn't hold back a bark of laughter as he dodged around the snaking ropes attempting to capture him. 'If you wanted me to dance for you, Evans, you only had to ask.'

'There's an idea,' she responded with a smirk. 'Tarantallegra.'

The spell hit him square in the chest, and he immediately began prancing and twirling against his will. His first instinct was to fight it, but it was taking all his concentration to keep his fists closed so he wouldn't drop the chess piece or his wand, so he relaxed his leg muscles and let them do as they wished.

Evans laughed (as did several of the students watching). 'Why don't you give me your wand? You'll be able to dance much better for us without it. Expelliarmus.'

As the red jet of light flew towards him, James had a sudden spark of inspiration and, instead of sidestepping, he attempted to spin out of its path. And it worked. It seemed as long as he was dancing, the spell would allow him some control over his movements. Sending up a quick mental thank you to his mum for insisting on all those dancing lessons when he was younger, James prepared himself for the performance of his life.

'If only there was some music,' he said, his voice loud and pointed, and moments later, the room filled with the sound of drumming and fast guitar music. Perfect. 'Thanks, Remus!'

Moving to the beat, James dodged the spells Evans fired at him, and lifted his wand, casting every restraining spell he could think of, one after the other, matching the rhythm of his casting to the drumbeat. 'Colloshoo, locomotor mortis, petrificus totalus, brachiabindo, digitos wibbly.'

Evans dodged the first spell as she threw up a shield to deflect the second and third, and she managed to avoid the ropes, but the final spell caught her while she was distracted and she dropped her wand when she lost control of her fingers. Her eyes widened, and she fumbled to grab it, but it clattered to the floor and rolled away.

Grinning as he continued dancing enthusiastically to the music, James waved his wand again. 'Immobulus.' The freezing charm hit her as she bent to pick up her wand, causing her to topple over, and in the same moment, the chess piece in James' hand reverted to a hunk of crystal. He could do nothing but watch in horror as she fell, headfirst, towards the stone floor.

'Arresto momentum,' Professor Tenebris shouted. 'Spongify.' The speed of Evans' fall slowed, and the ground in front of her softened. 'Continue, Mister Potter.'

James danced over and picked up Evans' wand, tossing it to Professor Tenebris, who caught it deftly. 'Mister Robbins, take note. That's how you deal with a Dancing charm with style. Excellent work, Mister Potter. Finite incantatum, finite incantatum. Mister Lupin, if you wouldn't mind stopping the music?'

James let out a breath of relief as his limbs finally stilled and he immediately returned to Evans' side to offer her a hand up. 'Told you I never lose,' he said, continuing the banter they'd been throwing at each other during the match.

She ignored his hand and pulled herself to her feet, brushing off her robes before tilting her head back to glare at him. 'Were you just going to let me crack my head open on the floor?'

'What? No! I—'

'You could've at least softened the floor so I wouldn't get hurt. Do you ever consider other people? Or is showing off your only personality trait?' She stormed away without giving him a chance to respond, retrieving her wand from Professor Tenebris before joining her friends on the opposite side of the circle to where Sirius, Remus, and Peter were waiting for him.

The accusation was completely unfair, but what could he say? From her perspective, his lack of action must have seemed uncaring at the very least, if not callous and cruel. All wasn't lost, though. He still had Sunshine, and he planned to take full advantage of his alter ego. With some help from his friends, of course.

Walking into classroom 12c after lunch on Saturday, Lily's stomach was filled with butterflies. She kept telling herself it was silly to be so excited about seeing Sunshine again, but the fizzing in her belly had been there since her birthday and she couldn't seem to make it stop. And if she'd taken a little more time getting ready that morning than she normally did, that was no one's business but her own.

'Wow! That's a lot of pink,' Dorcas said beside her, looking around the room with wide eyes.

She had a point. The bright pink clusters of tiny flowers were decorating every possible surface, and her stupid heart skipped a beat at the sight. 'Marls?'

'They're hydrangeas. And in this case, I think they mean Sunshine is glad you understood their message.'

Mary sighed. 'It's so romantic. Peter never gives me flowers.'

'Well, this is awkward,' Peter's voice said from behind them. 'If I give you flowers now, will it still count?'

Mary spun around. 'Oh my God, I didn't know you were behind me.'

Remus was standing beside Peter, and he laughed. 'That much was obvious. I'm sorry my friend's failed so terribly in his duties, Mary. I'll give him a stern talking to tonight.'

'He did make you an entire ice-skating rink,' Marlene said. 'I think he can be forgiven for the lack of flowers.'

Dorcas laughed. 'True, but why not both?'

'Yeah, why not both, Peter?' Lily said. 'Where are Mary's flowers?'

'Dear Lord,' Mary said, covering her reddening cheeks with her hands. 'Ignore them, Peter. I don't need flowers.'

'No one needs flowers,' Peter said. 'The more important question is, do you want flowers?'

'I think she definitely wants flowers,' Remus said.

Peter stepped closer to Mary and pressed a kiss to her lips. 'Then I'll get you flowers.'

'Hey! No hanky panky in class, please!'

Lily couldn't suppress the smile that forced itself onto her face at the sound of Sunshine's voice coming from the front of the room, and she turned around to look. Like the previous week, there were two identical women standing together on the stage. One of them was wearing a mini-skirt the same shade of pink as the flowers, paired with a skintight white top with long sleeves. The other was dressed in tight blue jeans and a yellow t-shirt, with outer-robes draped over the top. The combination of muggle and wizarding fashion actually looked really good. That one had to be Sunshine.

Everyone had turned to look at them at the Marauder's shout, and a blushing Peter had moved away from Mary under the attention, so Lily linked her arm through Mary's and waved goodbye to the two boys (unsurprisingly, there was no sign of Potter and Black. They probably thought themselves too skilled to need the practice). 'You can have your girlfriend back later, Peter. We've got work to do,' she said, before pulling Mary to the edge of the room, Dorcas and Marlene following.

After going over the wand movement shown in their textbook a few times, the girls started practising a Sticking charm; the same one Potter had tried to use against her in Defence the day before. And wasn't it just typical that he'd have learned a spell like that ahead of the curriculum? He probably used it to keep his targets in place while he harassed them. God, she was so annoyed that he'd beat her, especially while still under the effects of her Dancing charm. And getting Remus to play that music so he could show off better. Urgh, he was so arrogant it made her blood boil. And, as if all that wasn't enough, he'd frozen her and then left her to smash her head on the floor!

She glanced over at the person she was certain was Sunshine, remembering how concerned they'd been last week when she hadn't even been hurt. They were making their way around the room, stopping to talk to the various groups and help out, and it was so hard to concentrate, knowing she'd be talking to them soon. She needed to thank them properly for the birthday presents, as well as ask about the other thing.

'Lils, will you stop ogling Sunshine and see if my spell worked?' Marlene asked.

'What?' Lily frowned at her, confused, and then realised what she was talking about and tried to move her feet, but they were well and truly stuck to the floor. 'Yeah, it worked.'

'Brilliant, finite incantatum.' Marlene waved her wand at Lily's feet and they unglued, leaving her free to move again. 'Your turn.'

It was another ten minutes before Sunshine reached them, and Lily was in the middle of duelling Dorcas when they arrived. She tried not to be distracted by them watching her, but it was hard, even if they were standing out of her eye-line. Lily could feel their eyes on her.

Thankfully, Dorcas was gracious enough not to humiliate her in front of Sunshine and feigned a loss, letting herself be hit by a Disarming charm she could have easily dodged. Lily caught Dorcas' wand and handed it back to her before turning to Sunshine with a smile. 'Hi.'

'Good afternoon, Miss Evans. You're pretty good in a duel. Maybe I'll get the pleasure of going up against you one day?'

'Well,' Lily said. 'That depends, doesn't it?'

'On what?'

'On whether you're my age or several years older. It wouldn't be very fair if you were a seventh-year, for example.'

Sunshine chuckled. 'Nice try, Miss Evans. I guess we'll have to save duelling until you figure out who I am.'

'I guess we will,' she said, not letting the disappointment into her voice. 'For now, I'll just have to settle for thanking you for the flowers and chocolates. They were a lovely surprise.'

'You're very welcome. I'm pleased you liked them. And I very much enjoyed your reply.' Sunshine's eyes sparkled with mischief. 'I've never been called adorable before.'

Lily felt her cheeks warm up but didn't let the embarrassment get the better of her, keeping her eyes trained on Sunshine's. 'I find that hard to believe.'

'That's because you don't know who I am.'

'If I did, I'm sure I'd still think the same.'

'We'll see, won't we?' Sunshine said, smiling, then without waiting for a reply, 'Do you need any help this week?'

'No, but we do have a favour to ask. Could we speak to you and your… partner after the class?'

'Oh, sure. Of course. Er…' Sunshine looked around the room for a moment before turning back to her. 'How about you all go next door when you leave, and we'll meet you there when everyone's gone?'

Lily nodded. 'That works.'

'Wonderful. I'll see you later, then, Miss Evans.'

'Bye Sunshine.'

Lily watched them walk away and join the other Marauder, whispering into their ear. They nodded and glanced over to her group, so she waved and the Marauder smirked and winked at her. Lily assumed that was supposed to mean they were okay with the meeting. That was a relief. They would need both Marauders on board if this was going to work.

Fifteen minutes before the session officially ended, students started to leave. So Lily and her friends started packing their books away.

'Hey, Mary. Remus is going back to the dorm to study. Do you want to go for a walk around the Lake or something?' Peter asked as he walked up to them.

'Oh, I've got something to do right now. But we could go after dinner?'

'Yeah, alright. I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall?'

Mary nodded and gave him a kiss, and Peter and Remus left the classroom.

'Let's give them a minute to get out of the corridor,' Lily said. It ended up being more like three minutes as other students left, but they finally had an opening and hurried out of the classroom and into the next room along.

The Marauders joined them a few minutes later, strolling through the door together and coming to a stop in front of them.

'So, what can we do for you?' Sunshine asked, smiling.

Lily glanced at the others, but they'd already decided she should be the one to ask and all they did was offer encouraging smiles. So Lily gathered her courage and looked back at Sunshine. The worst they could do was refuse. 'Last week you asked me if we were planning anything.'

Sunshine nodded. 'I remember. You said you were.'

'Yes, well, we were hoping you'd be willing to tell us how you go about advertising an event without the prefects telling the staff about it?'

Sunshine grinned, but the other Marauder laughed. 'Let me get this straight. You're asking us to give away Marauder secrets to a group that literally calls themselves our curse?'

'Yeah…' Lily said, drawing out the word. 'That name might have been a mistake.'

'We were at war with you at the time,' Marlene pointed out. 'A war you declared.'

'That's true,' Sunshine said, before glancing at the other Marauder. They seemed to have a silent conversation with nothing but facial expressions before Sunshine turned back to her. 'My partner and I will need to discuss this. We'll let you know when we've decided.'

'Thank you,' Lily said. 'See you next week?'

Sunshine smiled. 'You certainly will. Goodbye, Miss Evans.'

There was no point hanging around, so they left, making their way back up to Gryffindor Tower.

'I thought that went well,' Mary said. 'Sunshine didn't seem very reluctant.'

'No, but the other one did,' Dorcas said. 'Really not keen on our name, were they?'

Marlene laughed. 'No, they weren't.'

'You made a good point, though,' Lily said. 'I'm pretty optimistic.'

'I just hope they give us an answer before tomorrow,' Dorcas said. 'We'll be cutting it close if we have to wait until next weekend to go.'

'I'm sure they will,' Lily said. 'Did any of you pick up on anything while we were talking to them?'

'There's something familiar about them,' Marlene said. 'But I don't know if that's just because we've spoken to them before.'

'I know what you mean,' Lily said. 'I feel like I know them.'

Dorcas shook her head. 'I still think they're way older than us, and it's weird.'

Lily rolled her eyes. 'We're just talking. There's nothing weird about that.'

'No, you're flirting, and it's weird when you don't know who they are.'

'Please, don't argue about this again,' Marlene said. 'You need to stop worrying, Cas. We're not going to let Lils be alone with them. She's perfectly safe.'

'It's still weird.'

'Changing the subject,' Lily said, picking the first thing that came to mind. 'Who wants to help me get back at Potter for leaving me to smash my face on the floor?'

Dorcas' scowl morphed into a grin. 'I'm in! What did you have in mind?'

'Well, they're always off God knows where. Doing mean things to unsuspecting first years, probably. So, I was thinking we sneak into their dorm and do something.'

Dorcas nodded thoughtfully. 'We can have a look at Zonko's. I'm sure they'll have something suitable.'

They received their reply from the Marauders at breakfast the next morning via a school owl. The scroll was addressed to Lily, so she opened it and read the short note in silence.

Miss Evans,

After much discussion, we've decided to allow you the information you requested. Simply advertise your event using the words 'Super Secret,' and the magic will do the rest.

I do hope you won't be messing with the Quidditch again.

Sunshine.

'Well?' Dorcas asked. 'Are we on?'

'We're on,' Lily said, folding the note and slipping it into her pocket.

'Excellent,' Marlene said, grinning. 'Let's finish this food and get going.'

Twenty minutes later they were in a corridor on the fifth floor, standing in front of a statue of some guy called Gregory the Smarmy. Lily moved around behind it and tapped her wand against one of the bricks, causing an opening to appear at the bottom of the wall, just big enough for a thin adult to squeeze through. Dropping to her hands and knees, she crawled in, climbing to her feet on the other side and dusting the dirt from her knees.

Once everyone was through, Lily tapped the brick again to close the opening and they began the long walk into Hogsmeade. The passageway was carved from stone, and the trip was mostly downhill, which was great on the way there, but not so much on the way back when they were loaded down with shopping.

It took over half an hour to complete the journey, but they finally emerged from the passage into a small cave located in the side of the mountain on the outskirts of the village. The opening to the cave was hidden by prickly bushes which they had to push their way through. Lily went first, pulling out a little bottle of Essence of Dittany on the other side to treat the scratches that couldn't be avoided. They then spent a couple of minutes picking leaves off each other and sorting out their hair. The whole process was a pain in the ass, but they'd yet to find another way to get into Hogsmeade, so, for now, they just had to put up with it if they wanted to go shopping.

'Zonko's first?' Dorcas suggested. 'We don't want to be lugging around the butterbeer with us.'

'I was thinking the same thing,' Lily agreed.

The village was quiet and sleepy as they walked through it towards the joke shop. It seemed no one wanted to venture outside so early on a Sunday morning, and Lily couldn't blame them. It was bitterly cold even with her muggle coat. She couldn't imagine how cold Marlene must be with just her cloak.

Zonko's was, thankfully, already open when they reached it and they stepped into the warmth of the shop with sighs of relief. The shopkeeper glanced up as they entered, raised his eyebrows at them, and then shrugged and returned to his work, unpacking a box onto a set of shelves near the back. Lily had two working theories for why none of the shopkeepers seemed interested in reporting them for being out of bounds. The first was that they were all so desperate for business that turning away customers for being in the village while underage was unthinkable. Her second theory was that they had all been students at Hogwarts themselves, and had used the same secret passages to shop in the village before they should have.

'How about this?' Marlene asked, showing her a packet with a picture of someone growing thick brown hair all over their body.

Lily laughed, mentally picturing Potter covered in fur. 'Oh my God. Can you imagine?'

'Even funnier if it matches the hair on his head,' Dorcas said.

'How much is it?'

'Three sickles,' Mary said, peering at the price tag on the shelf.

Lily hummed. 'I was hoping for something cheaper.'

'Alright, let's keep looking,' Dorcas said. 'If we can't find anything, I'll go halves with you.'

They searched the shop from top to bottom, but the best thing they could find within Lily's budget was Itching Powder, and honestly, that was kind of boring. So she reluctantly accepted Dorcas' offer and bought the Hair Growth Dust. After stopping at The Three Broomsticks and purchasing enough butterbeer for the party, which Madam Rosmerta kindly shrunk and cast a Featherlight charm on for them, they returned to the cave and made their way back to the school.

There was no sign of Potter and his friends when they reached Gryffindor Tower, but they had no way of knowing whether they were in their dorm room, so they couldn't act immediately. Instead, they set themselves up at a table under the windows and pretended to do homework while they waited. And waited.

'It's almost lunchtime,' Dorcas said, after a few hours. 'I think we should go down early. We can eat, and leave when they get there.'

The plan worked like a charm. By the time Potter and his friends made an appearance in the Great Hall, they'd all finished eating. It was perfect timing. With everyone at lunch, the common room was empty, and they crept up the stairs to the boy's dormitories, checking the names on the doors until they found the one they were looking for.

'Should we put it in all the beds?' Dorcas asked as Lily pushed the door open. 'So it doesn't look so obvious that we're targeting Potter?'

'Not Peter's' Mary said.

'We can't just leave out Peter,' Marlene said. 'That would make it so obvious it was us.'

Lily stepped into the room and looked around. 'It's either just Potter or all of them. I don't care which.'

The room was tidier than she'd expected. There were clothes strewn about, and one of the beds had a ridiculous amount of books stacked beside it (Remus'?), but it was otherwise clean. Above each of the desks was an animated painting, one showing each of the boys in the beach room, and above the fireplace, there was one of the four of them together. And for some reason, a blank sheet of parchment was hanging on the wall near the door, framed as if it was a photograph. Weird.

She tried to take another step into the room, but her feet wouldn't move. 'Er, guys? I think I'm stuck.'

'Shit,' Marlene said. 'I can't move either.'

'Did they booby trap their door?' Dorcas asked. 'What the fuck?'

'Can you shut the door?' Lily asked.

Mary was the closest, so she reached for it and shoved it closed. 'Peter is so going to dump me if he catches us here.'

Lily pulled out her wand and pointed it at her feet. 'Finite incantatum.' It didn't work. 'I doubt he'll dump you, Mary. We weren't going to do anything to him.'

'He doesn't know that, though.'

'If we can't get out before they get back, we'll explain. It'll be fine,' Lily said. 'Let's just concentrate on trying to break this spell right now. Any ideas?'