We had a plan sketched out in a matter of minutes; it was relatively easy, yet cunning, sneaky, and probably used often. We weren’t that original, but as long as it worked, then it didn’t matter.

“We need an name for out plan,” James said, looking down at the piece of parchment he was writing on. “How about ‘Operation Remus and Marie?’”

“Too obvious,” I said. “If we were to talk about it in class and someone overheard, they would know what was going on automatically.”

“Are we going to talk about this in class?”

“We might… in notes or something?”

“Lily Evans, passing notes?” James gasped jokingly. “What a surprise.”

“Oh, ha ha, so funny, James,” I replied sarcastically.

“All right…” he sighed. “What about ‘Operation Recon?’”

“Why does it have to be an operation?”

“How about ‘Project Recon?’”

“Ah, never mind then,” I laughed. “It sounds like a school assignment. Let’s go with ‘Operation Recon.’”

James nodded and wrote the words in big letters across the top of our plan. “Now… codenames.”

“Why do we need codenames?” I asked, shaking my head.

“Because they sound cool.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, mature response.”

“All right… because I want them. Even better. I could be… Hmm… ‘Recon Sniper Team.’”

“You can’t be a whole team,” I laughed. “You’re just one person. I’ll be ‘Agent X.’”

“But that’s so generic!”

“Yet oddly easy.”

“Fine, I’ll just be ‘Recon Sniper.’”

“How about ‘Recon Stupid?’”

“Oh, you’re going to get it for that,” he laughed and started to tickle me.

“James… stop, stop!” I laughed, tears rolling down my eyes. “I can’t breathe!”

He stopped, and then smiled at me. “You’re cute when you laugh. Well, are you ready to start our plan, then?”

I blushed a little. “Sure. I’ll take Marie, you get Remus. See you soon.”

I headed towards the lake, when Marie always was between classes. Sure enough, she was sitting there. “Hey, I’m really sorry about earlier. I swear you didn’t walk in on… much.”

She grinned. “Well I hope I didn’t ruin the moment. You looked like you were having fun.”

“Oh, speaking of fun,” I said, pulling her up next to me. "I have a surprise for you.”

“Surprise?” she asked, her eyes sparkling. “I do like surprises.”

I let her inside and we walked back and forth around a corridor a few times. I was hoping that James’ plan would work; he knew about many more places in the castle than I did, and I trusted him, even though I felt rather silly.

“Lily, are you sure you know where we’re supposed to be going?” Marie asked as we walked past a blank patch of wall again.

Suddenly, a door popped out of nowhere. “Yep. In there. You go first… I’ll be right behind you.”

She looked at me nervously then did as I said. I caught a glimpse of three sofas and a surprised Remus sitting at one before I shut the door and locked it.