December ended and so did January. School had begun again and rumors of Lily and James moving in together spread faster than a flesh-eating disease.
One night while Lily and James were doing rounds, James said,
"Sirius' birthday is in two days."
"Yeah, I think I know that." Lily replied, gesturing to the permanent marker on the wall. Sirius had written as big as he could,
On February 12th, join in for the birthday celebration of a lifetime. Sirius Black is coming of age! Be in the Quidditch pitch at 6:00. No Slytherins or students under fifth year. Teachers ignore this. Same thing with Prefects. Filch is a bigheaded git and his cat is almost uglier than Bellatrix Lestrange, who is also a bigheaded git and is a whore.
Messrs. Padfoot and Lady Pinkstripe.
James laughed and smiled.
"That's defiantly Sirius' handwriting." James said.
"Well, I think he should get a detention." Lily said.
"Okay. He'll love that for a birthday gift." James said sarcastically.
"Except he wasn't alone." Lily said, smiling at James.
"Hey, don't look at me!" James cried.
"I'm not. I'm talking about Lauren. Lady Pinkstripe? She's the only girl with pink stripes in her hair!" Lily said.
"Except for Sirius' second cousin, Nymphodora Tonks in third year." James said. Lily stared him down. "Um… Shall we track them down then, yes?"
"I'm not giving them detention, you dope." Lily said, laughing.
"Women." James muttered.
"What about us?" Lily asked.
"You're ridiculous." James said.
"So this is ridiculous?" She asked, kissing him sweetly.
"Yeah. You didn't kiss me long enough." He joked. She pushed him and they walked hand in hand back to the Gryffindor tower.
"Happy birthday, Sirius!" Lauren cried, kissing him on his cheek.
"Oh, thanks love." Sirius said sincerely.
"Oh, they're so cute." Lily said, nuzzling her head up against James' shoulder.
They were out in the Quidditch pitch setting up for Sirius' party.
"I know." Rebecca said. "Remus, can you hand me the tape?"
Remus nodded and traded the tape for a kiss on the lips.
"Where's Wormtail?" James asked.
"I don't know, he was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago. Look at the map." Sirius said.
"What map?" Lily asked.
James looked at Sirius, who nodded and looked at Remus who nodded, too.
"Lily, come here. I need to tell you something." James said, leading her over to the Gryffindor stands.
"What is it?" She asked.
"This is the marauder's map." James said, pulling out the map.
"James, don't be silly! It's just a blank piece of parchment." Lily said.
"Tell it to reveal itself." James said amusingly.
Lily pulled out her wand and pressed it against the map.
"Reveal yourself." She said.
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs present… A spare piece of parchment that says smart things to those who force it to reveal itself.
"I, Lily Evans, command you to show yourself." Lily said.
Mr. Moony would like to tell Miss Evans that although she is a dear friend of his, she is not ready to see what this map is really used for.
Mr. Wormtail would also like to add that although Lily is very pretty; she needs to mind her own business.
Mr. Padfoot would like to add that although he would like to snog Lily Evans to death, she should really read a book instead. He also insists that she meets him in the astronomy tower tonight.
Mr. Prongs would like to tell Ms. Evans that all she has to do is say, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." And of course, the map will reveal itself. You also owe Mr. Prongs a passionate kiss.
Lily kissed James passionately.
"No I don't." She said, laughing. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The map appeared and she smiled.
"You like it?" He asked.
"It's- it's amazing! How did you do it?" She asked.
"I can't tell you because then I'd have to kill you." He said.
"Alright. Then I won't tell you who I was snogging in the stands last night." She said sarcastically.
"So that's where Peter was!" He exclaimed. She pushed him and let out a chuckle.
She looked down at the map to see a labeled "Peter Pettigrew" heading towards a room on the fourth floor.
Suddenly it stopped and met up with another label. Severus Snape.
"What the-?" Lily asked, confused.
"C'mon, I bet they're fighting." James said. They quickly rushed up to the castle and they heard Peter and Severus having a heated conversation.
"He is very angry, Pettigrew. He needs his information. Or else." Snape said angrily. Lily looked worriedly at James, who had the same look. James pulled out his invisibility cloak and covered the two of them. They walked silently closer to get a better view.
"B-but h-h-he said that I could give him it later…" Peter said, very frightened.
"Well, he changed his mind. Now, you went to the meeting over Winter break. I'm surprised. Well, anyways, he gave you the mark and you must do what he says." Snape threatened. Lily's eyes widened and she looked at James, who was staring, eyes wide open.
"Okay." Peter squealed.
"And the information on the order, too." Snape demanded.
"Alright, anything. Anything for him." Peter cried.
"And my master would also like to know the address of Potter, the filthy blood-traitor." Peter hesitated and then nodded.
James went to attack Peter, but Lily held him back.
She dragged him outside and pulled the cloak off of them.
"He's… a traitor." James whispered. "He works for Voldemort." Lily flinched at the name.
"We can't tell anybody." Lily said.
"I'm telling Remus." James said.
"No! You can't tell ANYBODY." Lily said.
"Why not?! He'll kill us." James said angrily.
"We'll just give him the wrong information. We'll tell him everything opposite of what he needs to know. Then the traitor will pay from his `master' and we won't feel guilty." Lily said.
"Alright, but I'm not associating with scum like him anymore." James said angrily.
"Neither will I. Now let's head back down to the field before they come searching for us." Lily said. James nodded and they walked down into the pitch. "The one thing I don't understand is the `order' thing… What could that be?" She asked. James looked down at his feet.
"Um… I don't know." He lied. She could tell he was lying, but she knew it was an important secret.
"Boy is Peter Pettigrew going to get it." James muttered.
Lily nodded and they went to the party.
They knew Peter was a traitor, and they also knew karma was coming.
A/n: the next chapter is called karma.
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