The Hogwarts kitchen was a disaster zone. From the moment that Lily had entered, she had been unable to ignore the overturned trestle tables that were currently serving as cover for Peter and Ruttegar Bulstrode as they shot spells at each other. Somehow, although Lily did not know how it was possible, those thick, sturdy tables had avoided being blasted to bits by the continuous stream of stunners Bulstrode seemed to be sending at Peter.

Bulstrode had never been known for his inventiveness.

Now, however, as Lily's eyes adjusted to the unusually dim light (Crabbe had knocked out the torches some time ago), the greater toll of the battle appeared before her. Pots, pans and cooking utensils were strewn everywhere across the floor, and over in the far eastern corner, Lily was fairly sure she could spot a pair of cowering house-elves, who hadn't been able to escape through the door to their living quarters, as the aforementioned trestles appeared to be blocking it. Splatters of what appeared to be rice pudding were artfully smattered across the rooftop, and over near Remus, there seemed to be a rather large and sticky looking puddle of what Lily suspected may have once been treacle.

Lily also noticed that the Head Boy, who had slunk up beside her, appeared to be attempting to catch her eye again, and was looking supremely guilty.

James scratched his head, looking around the kitchen and feeling a similar weight of despair to the emotion that Lily herself was currently experiencing. James' despair, however, appeared to be centered on the (in his opinion, anyway) infinitely more important fate of the Marauder's Map. "I guess you want an explanation?"

Lily pursed her lips, planting her hands on her hips as she surveyed the kitchen with a critical eye. "It can wait, James. The point is, I look at this Map thing, and much to my surprise…"

James suddenly felt a hope beyond all rational hopes. Lily didn't care about the Map? Unconsciously, he began to smile, although that quickly began to fade as his gaze returned to Lily and he heard her sigh. Lily shook her head, and the smile disappeared all together. In fact, her eyes looked distinctly sad.

"I'm going to have to take house points, James," she told him quietly.

James nodded, silently cursing Lily's dedication to her position. Why couldn't she learn to appreciate his approach, and apply the rules with a similar flair for creativity? He turned away to watch Sirius and Regulus in an attempt to mask his frustration.

"Someone should probably call those two off," he replied, in sort. "Twenty points apiece, was it?"

Lily nodded apologetically. "I'm afraid so."

Cupping his hands to his mouth, James yelled. "Oi, Padfoot! Enough already!"

Distracted, Sirius glanced around and found Lily beside James. At that moment, Regulus seemed to recover, and managed to knock Sirius off his feet. Sirius got to his feet, rolling his eyes, and without much further ado, body bound his brother.

"Spoil my fun," he grumbled, levitating Regulus out the door.

Together, Lily and the Marauders set the kitchen tables right again, and then Lily made the boys apologise to the house-elves. As they made their way back upstairs, James looked, in Lily's opinion, to be distinctly disappointed. But what could she have done? It was so very hypocritical to only take points from the Slytherins – and if there was one thing Lily Evans loathed, it was hypocrisy.

"A couple of years ago, what with all the full moon stuff, we took to exploring the grounds and Hogsmeade, and you know… Remus thought that since he couldn't really remember much, a map would be something fun to make. So we made the map for him, and then Sirius came up with the idea to chart people on it too, so we wouldn't ever get caught…" James ran his hands through his hair and glanced cautiously at the Head Girl, who strangely enough didn't seem all that inclined to yell.

Lily was, in fact, adding up all the loose ends and mysteries that had surrounded the Marauders for years. The Map certainly explained why the Marauders were only ever caught and punished for their pranks on the rare occasion when they actually owned up to committing them. It also explained their apparently endless supply of sweets and alcohol, amongst other miscellaneous Hogsmeade paraphernalia, which Lily had observed had the tendency to be confiscated as often as they were replaced. All in all though, Lily could see that they appeared to only ever use the Map for fun. Only one lingering doubt remained in her mind:

"You actually made that Map?" Lily asked incredulously, picking up the now blank piece of parchment.

James opened his mouth to reply, but even as he did, lines were appearing on the parchment, rough, curly scrawls that were almost illegible and yet infallibly recognizable as…

James winced.His handwriting...

Mr Prongs is of the opinion that Miss Evans is the most beautiful girl at Hogwarts.

Lily blushed as the words appeared across the page, glancing at James with shining eyes.

Mr Moony would like to commend Mr Prongs on making Miss Evans blush.

Mr Padfoot suspects that Miss Evans is secretly in love with Mr Prongs.

James watched as Lily's eyes widened and her blush intensified. Leaning toward her curiously, he was extremely surprised when she concealed the writing from him, grasping the parchment to her chest and looking extremely mortified. Much to her dismay, a different yet still familiar scrawl began to appear on the back of the page. James read it, grinning.

Mr Wormtail would like to request that Miss Evans put Mr Prongs out of his misery as soon as she finds convenient.

"Mischief Managed?" James asked quietly.

Lily bit her lip and nodded. "Point taken, good sirs," she murmured as the Map wiped itself blank, before surrendering it to James. "It's been a long day – I might just call it a night, I think."

She stood up to leave, muffling a yawn with her hand in what James felt was an incredibly cute manner.

"Night, Lils," he murmured, before sighing and loosening his tie.

The fire crackled, making James jump, and grinning ruefully, he settled back into the pile of ornamental cushions amassed behind him.

"You know, you're lucky she didn't burn you," James mumbled absently, caressing the map as he carefully and reverently folded it back up. "Lucky you're all such smooth talkers…"

Yawning a little himself, he glanced lazily toward the coffee table. Lily had left out a pile of plans for the Winter Ball that he needed to go over, but James found that he simply couldn't be bothered.

Someone coughed above him, and he glanced up to find Lily leaning on the gallery railing, wearing her dressing gown. She smiled at him shyly, and from the look in her eyes, James could tell she'd noticed the map in his hands.

"You know, that Map really is quite incredible, James," she told him quietly.

James cast his mind back to that faithful day in fifth year, when Remus had cast the finishing charms, and smiled.

"It is," he murmured fondly in agreement.

There was a look on Lily's face that he found impossible to read. "Twenty points for innovation," she murmured finally, her hand lazily gesturing toward the precious map. "Each."

James grinned, and nodded his thanks. Lily gave him a small half-smile and disappeared into her room for the night.

"Prongs!"

James mumbled incoherently in his sleep, hand stretched lazily out of bed and searching through the mess of his bedside table.

On the other side of the mirror, Sirius watched, smirking, as James' hand moved steadily into sight.

"A little to the left," he directed the hand helpfully, and next thing Sirius knew, the mirror seemed to be suspended in front of the tousle-haired boy.

"What time is it, Paddy?" James yawned. To Sirius, it sounded more like 'Wha tist Paddy?'

Sirius grinned. "First snow of the season, that's what time it is, Prongs. Take a look out the window, if you please."

James blinked sleepily and sat up, abandoning the handheld mirror on his bedspread and clinging to the curtains as he drew them apart.

Outside, the grounds of Hogwarts were blindingly white. James grinned, and checked his watch. 5am! His smile rapidly disappeared.

"You ruin my weekend sleep in too often," James grumbled, climbing out of bed and casting his gaze around for a pair of trousers.

The mirror laughed in response. "See you outside the castle in fifteen minutes?"

"Not if I see you first," James retorted.

"Honestly, Wormy," Sirius complained as Peter's snowball disintegrated mid-flight, en-route to James and Remus' fortress.

Peter rolled his eyes. "It's not my fault you chose to set our camp in powder," he reminded Sirius.

Sirius scowled.

Thwack.

The unmistakeable sound of their friends sniggering carried over the open, powdery ground from the small fortress of snowballs that James and Remus were cowering behind. Sirius' scowl intensified, but there was an unmistakable flicker in his eyes that made Peter smile.

"Storm the fortress?" he suggested softly.

Sirius' scowl transformed into a grin. "Best idea you've had all day, Wormy. On three?"

Peter grinned back. "Deal."

Remus gulped. "Er – Prongs?"

James looked up from his steadily increasing pile of snowballs. "Moony?"

"You might want to start using those sooner, rather than-"

War cries sounded on the air, and James' head jerked up out of the cover of their humble wall. "Blimey –Wingardium leviosa!"

Remus grinned as twenty-seven snowballs hovered in mid air, awaiting James' command. With a flick of his wand, James sent them flying in the direction of Sirius and Peter, who were doing a terrible job of running stealthily. Remus chuckled as one after another, snowballs smacked Sirius in the face. At least Peter had had the good sense to duck…

"And you think an avalanche in the charms corridor isamusing, do you, Mr. Black?"

Sirius winced as Professor McGonagall loomed over the Gryffindor table, effectively interrupting the Marauder's quiet breakfast, later that same morning.

"Terribly," Sirius muttered, biting back a grin. Realising that what he'd intended to say and what he had actually said were two very different things, Sirius coughed. "I mean – it's a disaster, simply… terrible."

McGonagall rolled her eyes. "You're lucky it's Sunday, Black. My office in ten minutes for detention!"

Sirius scowled into his porridge. "Thanks for the support," he muttered glumly.

Remus shrugged. "Cheer up," he told Sirius without a trace of sympathy. "Hogsmeade is cancelled anyway, so the most you were going to do today was spend it complaining while we studied, right?"

James and Peter exchanged looks of amusement. "Yeah, study. Right," James agreed quickly.