While James may have decided there was nothing wrong with growing up, he also found that there seemed to be nothing wrong with having fun sometimes, too. And this is how he came to the conclusion, on a rainy Monday afternoon, the day before Halloween, that Sirius may have had the right hand of it when he suggested a simple solution to all James' problems with Lily.

"It's really simple," Sirius explained easily, a slow, confident grin stretching across his face.

A deep worry line creased Remus' forehead, and it wasn't because the details of Advanced Self Defense Spells particularly concerned him.

"Nothing is ever simple when it comes to you, Padfoot," he murmured.

James shrugged easily, grinning. "Perhaps not, but Sirius happens to be the second most brilliant student in this place. He can't go too far wrong, can you, Padfoot?"

Sirius scowled. "Second?" he complained, sweeping his fringe out of his eyes.

"Your idea?" James pressed, keen to avoid one of Sirius' ego trips.

"Right," the smile returned. "Well, like I said, its simply a matter of transferring Lily's affections from Scummy to you."

"Brilliant!" Peter clapped energetically as Sirius took a mock bow.

James' frown rivaled Remus'.

"All right," he murmured slowly, mulling it over. "But how?"

"A transference spell, of course," Sirius replied, offended that James hadn't really taken to his idea.

"So it's really just a matter of kidnapping Scummy, and performing the spell?"

Sirius beamed. "Exactly."

It was Halloween – a fact that did not bode well with Remus. In fact, he couldn't help feeling that attempting something as stupid as this seemed, on Halloween, wasbegging for trouble. Nevertheless, after the annual Halloween Feast, the Marauders hung back as the rest of the school wandered up the marble staircase, their stomachs full.

Sirius, whose appetite was insatiable, continued to eat as the other boys sat around watching him. James kept flickering his eyes toward his watch, a subtle plea for Sirius to hurry up. He appeared, however, to be in no hurry, and as they trouped out of the Great Hall, James was alarmed to discover that it was already 7.30pm.

Sirius appeared oblivious. Pulling out the Marauder's map, he lit his wand with a muttered lumos. It lit his face from below, making him seem even more foreboding.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are!"

"I feel I need to tell you that I want no part in this. I don't like it one bit," Remus announced warily.

"Then why did you come?" Peter asked, confused.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Well someone needs to keep an eye on you lot."

James shushed them impatiently.

The Marauders were huddled beneath the invisibility cloak, behind the statue that stood along the corridor from the Carved Witch. According to the Map, Art was inside with Lily, and (again according to Sirius) it was simply a matter of waiting for him to come out.

"James," Remus ventured, two hours later. "Maybe you should kick him out?"

Sirius shot Remus a silencing glare. Sirius couldn't understand Remus' apprehension at all. Why, it was Sirius,Sirius (!) who had planned the entire thing. Sirius tossed his hair, making it fan out across his face in (if he did think so himself) a rather handsomely rugged way. Someone coughed, and Sirius turned around to glare at his three friends, who were all trying very hard not to laugh, and as a result were rather red in the face.

James allowed himself to crack a rueful grin as Sirius turned back around. As far as James could remember, Sirius didn't even approve of James' crush on Lily, and yet here they were, cramped beneath the cloak waiting to effectively kill Lily's relationship. Sirius, as always, was full of surprises. James shot Remus a furtive glance. He was looking rather pale again, which couldn't be good. It wasn't the full moon for at least another half a month, which meant that Remus must actually be ill… or rather… James sighed audibly, causing Sirius to shush him again. Peter's wand was casting a soft, opalescent glow over the four boys beneath the cloak. Well, at least he isn't sick, James thought, before suggesting that Peter might like to douse the light.

Lily watched Art talking animatedly from the lounge beside her, and inwardly sighed. He had been talking forthree hours. Three! No matter how much she tried, she would never be as interested in Quidditch as Art seemed to be – or rather, in Ravenclaw's Quidditch prowess. Being a Gryffindor, Lily was diametrically opposed to appreciating Ravenclaw's Quidditch skill – or, in her opinion, theirlack of skill.

And this was probably quite accurate. No matter how much Art boasted about his talent on the broomstick, the sad truth was that Art really wasn't that good, especially if Lily compared him to the Gryffindor team (which she was). James Potter, although it rued Lily to say so, was quite possibly the best flyer Hogwarts had seen in many years, not to mention a great skill with the Quaffle. At least that's what Professor McGonagall had said once. And he was not the only talent. Emmy was a natural on a broomstick herself, and was particularly adept at weaving. Sirius had not only skill on the broomstick but a fantastic eye as a Beater, and a very clever grip at tactics, which is why McGonagall had appointed him as Captain last year. The rest of the team were good, but these three were truly the best, and the best at a level that Art, or for that matter anyof the Ravenclaws, could not compete.

Lily was bored out of her brain, to have been thinking about Quidditch.

At that moment, mercifully, the Carved Witch opened to admit one Head Boy. He wandered into the room with a casual air that Lily had to admire. Art had stopped talking the moment that James had entered, and was looking at the tall young man with every sign of great dislike. It was looking like he may have headed straight upstairs, but it seemed that he caught the pleading in her eyes.

"Er – excuse me," James began awkwardly. "Sorry Scamander, but I have important things to discuss with Evans. Head stuff. You understand, of course?"

Art might have spluttered, but thankfully he was more dignified than that. Instead, he allowed himself to peer suspiciously between the two Head Students before scowling.

"I suppose I'll see you later, Lily," Art told her ungraciously, before standing and letting himself out.

Lily turned to James expectantly, and he grinned at her. "You looked like you needed rescuing,' he told her kindly.

Lily looked at him in surprise. "Oh!" she murmured, looking a tad guilty. "Thanks, I guess. There wassomething you wanted to discuss, though, wasn't there?"

James laughed and shook his head. "No, not really actually!" he paused, and Lily looked at him expectantly. In truth, now his mission to extract Scummy had been completed, James was trying to work out how to make his impending hasty exit less inconspicuous. Suddenly, it hit him.

"-Er, I'm just going to get a book and get back to the library. I'm… studying with Remus."

Lily beamed, and James was relieved to discover that this had been the right answer.

"I'm so glad you're finally taking your study seriously, Potter," she told him warmly. "Now if only you could teach Black to apply himself-"

James headed up to his room, chuckling. "That's wishful thinking!" he called down, and grabbing the closest book (his Potions textbook) James was pleased to hear her laugh in reply.

"Well, Potter, you've inspired me," Lily announced as he made his way back downstairs. "I should get some work done too. Maybe I'll see you in the library in a bit?"

James emerged from the Carved Witch and looked around quickly for his friends. Peter was waiting by the statue, hands stuffed into his pockets in what appeared to be an imitation of Sirius' casualness.

"What took you so long?" he asked conversationally, frowning as he watched James stash his Potions book behind the statue.

"Had a chat with Lily," he murmured in reply, clapping Peter on the shoulder. "Thanks for waiting, Wormtail."

Peter grinned. "That's ok, Prongs. Sirius stunned Scummy and they put him under the invisibility cloak. Remus was levitating him out, and I thought I'd wait for you, just in case I got in the way."

Peter looked a little sad at his last admonition, and James could not help but feel pity for the stocky boy.

"You, get in the way?" he responded lightly, as they began their way up to the Room of Requirement. "Now whoever gave you that idea surely wasn't serious."

"No," Peter responded glumly. "In fact, it was Sirius."

"Sirius was probably in one of his moods," James told him bracingly, making a mental note to have a chat to his best friend about this. There were times when James became extremely concerned about Peter's self esteem, and this was one of them.

"Sirius is always in a mood," Peter mumbled. "He has been ever since you moved into the Head's Tower."

James didn't really know how to respond to this piece of information, and so they continued to walk in silence. He supposed he had, in a way, split up the Marauders when they had never been separated before. Suddenly, James felt terribly guilty, but as they had arrived at the door to the Room of Requirement, he forced this guilt down with a ruffle of his hair.

"Oh good!" Sirius beckoned James forward toward two tables. Scummy was laid out upon one of them, looking very much unconscious.

"You lie on that one," Sirius ordered, efficiently.

"This reminds me a little too much of Frankenstein," James muttered darkly before complying. Remus appeared above him, looking sympathetic. "Sorry, Prongs. Padfoot did the walking and thinking. I was levitating Scummy."

"I was just getting into the holiday spirit!" Sirius replied, affronted.

James shrugged, smiling lopsidedly. "Oh well, all serves a purpose, I suppose."

However, as Sirius had just appeared above him, having handed Peter and Remus white lab coats and having already donned his own, James could not shake the ominous feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Remind me what you're doing, again?" he asked weakly.

Sirius cleared his throat. "We are transferring Lily's affections from Scummy to you, Prongs. Are you ready?" he asked in a scarily kind, patronizing voice.

James gulped and nodded.

"Prongs! Prongs! Wake up, come on, that's right, open your eyes!"

"Hey guys, Scummy's waking up!" Peter's voice sounded, to James much closer.

Rubbing his eyes, he sat up slowly and looked at his gawping friends.

"So, do you think it worked?" he asked conversationally. That is when he noticed both Remus and Sirius were pointing their wands at him.

"What's going on, Moony?" James appealed to his reasonable friend, whose eyes widened in shock.

"How – how do you know my nick name?" Remus breathed, looking like an animal caught in the wand light of a hunter.