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He shudders, groaning as his head lolls back. His arm trembles and he subconsciously reaches out to touch it with his bandage-free arm.
He shifts and mumbles, wincing as something rasps against his dry throat, "W-what ha-happened?"
Someone hands him his glasses, gently tapping him on the shoulder.
"Welcome back, Potter," Sirius smirks. His hair is a disheveled, muddy mess and his face bears a few scrapes, though nothing compared to the cut running down James's cheek. He offers James a tall glass of water and it's when James takes it that he notices the blood-soaked bandage wrapped around Sirius's hand.
At his inquisitive stare, Sirius shrugs, "Just a cut. The bleeding already stopped. I should probably get my bandage changed, though."
James nods jerkily, feeling his vision blur for a moment. He sips on the water, grimacing at the strong taste of metal in his mouth. The water washes it down but the inside of his cheek still stings.
"How do you feel, Prongs?" Remus says, taking his half-filled glass and setting it on the table beside his bed. "Don't worry about the headache. Madam Pomfrey says it's bound to hurt for a while. She thinks it will wear off with time."
James nods, rubbing his eyes behind his glasses. He sighs, "What happened? Why are you in Quidditch clothes, Padfoot?"
Peter frowns, his eyebrows bunching together, "Don't you re-uh, we just haven't had any time to change."
"Yeah, mate. We got here as soon as you did and have been here ever since. I have, anyway. Peter and Penny came here as soon as they finished commentating for the match." He pauses awkwardly, shuffling his feet. "Sorry about that Bludger. I should've seen it coming. Thanks for taking the...y'know."
Sirius smiles unenthusiastically, his gaze trained on the thick layers of gauze wrapped firmly around James's head, allowing bits of unruly hair to stick out between gaps here and there. James grows further flummoxed. His face drops and the colour drains from it.
"We had a match today? Wha-what?" he exclaims sharply. "Did we win? Who were we playing? Why am I—what in Merlin's scraggly beard happened?"
He turns from face to face in the crowd frantically, frustrated at the lack of response.
"James, you don't remember?" Lily breathes, attracting his attention.
His expression softens. She holds his gaze until he looks away, clearing his throat.
"What's the last thing you remember, Prongs?" Sirius asks seriously, in a business-like manner, his arms crossed across his chest. "What day is it?"
"When is Gryffindor supposed to play Slytherin?" Chris, a fellow Chaser, perks up, pushing his way past the crowd so that he stands pressed to the edge of James's bed.
"We had Potions, right? I ate toast for breakfast and then we were supposed to pick up our Potions essays from the dorm room, Sirius." James starts off confidently, but towards the end of the sentence, his voice rings with uncertainty. He fidgets with the loose threads in his blanket, resolutely avoiding Lily or Sirius's gaze. "The match is supposed to be next Saturday, isn't it?"
Sirius and Lily exchange a glance which ends with Sirius breaking away , his face hard. Lily hastily brushes something from her eyes and takes a step back, taking in a shaky breath.
"Is this normal?"
James snaps his focus to the Hufflepuff prefect that posed the question and glowers, albeit not wholeheartedly.
He clenches his jaw as the silence descends. He waits for someone, anyone to speak. Balling his fists, his muscles tighten and he continues waiting as if any minute, he might explode and begin yelling. Sirius, most of all, proves most annoying as he mutterssomething to Remus in an undertone.
Remus asks to no one in particular, squirming somewhat. "James, this isn't a joke, is it? You're not messing with us? Because if you are – "
"Does it look like I'm bloody well joking?" The words echo in the infirmary and some of the other patients shift to get a look at him. He thunders, panting profusely.
"Could someone please call Madam Pomfrey?"
Madam Pomfrey bustles over to him to take a look. She seems harried and a patch of green stains her dress. She has someone hold her wand as she bends close to examine James. She asks Remus and Sirius a few questions and then asks James how he feels, what he remembers, requests that he look straight and so on. A brief examination is all it takes for her to smile somewhat contentedly. She assures him he'll be fine with a bit of rest and very sternly requests that he be left alone.
With a bit of persuasion, she does agree to let one person stay, provided that the crowd disperses. That being said, she hands James a sleeping potion and scurries to the boy whose warts keep exploding, her wand raised to shield herself from pus.
The majority of the crowd leaves James with sad looks, telling him to feel better. The remaining few are chased out by Sirius.
Peter and Remus reluctantly begin to leave as well.
Lily rushes over to Sirius, starting a heated, hushed conversation that James strains to catch. Sirius scowls at her but at her piercing look, he clamps shut his mouth grudgingly. He shoves his hands in his pockets, bids James a goodbye, and leaves the two of them alone. He closes the doors with far too much force making Madam Pomfrey huff something to herself.
James watches Lily curiously. She turns toward him slowly, scratching her temple.
"I'm glad to hear you'll be okay," Lily starts. She plays with her hands and smiles a watery smile, one that makes him think it will melt at a moment's notice. "So I don't suppose you remember bits of what happened since last Wednesday, do you?"
He quirks his eyebrows upward. His voice is pleasanter and richer when he speaks, "Not really. Am I missing something important?"
Laughing a strangled sort of laugh, she tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. "I don't know how high that places on the list of priorities."
She nudges the gauze on his bedside table, flicking it into a vial of hazy blue fluid, "You probably want to know what happened to the match, yeah? You guys were sort of arguing about the penalties when Avery, the bloody prat, aimed a Bludger at Sirius's head. Sirius didn't see it coming and you did and instead of cleverly using a wand to deflect it, you flew into Sirius to push him out of the way.
"McGonagall was furious. She took it up with Slughorn immediately and you won't guess what happened." She grins openly and boldly. "Avery has been suspended from any future matches this year and a good bit of points were docked from Slytherin House."
James chortles, loudly, "That is some consolation! What did Sirius do?"
"Nothing, yet. But he will. He kept muttering something about Avery humiliating himself." Lily seats herself on the next bed. "I should deter him. I'm the Head Girl and all I can do is to wait for him to get on with whatever he has planned."
She buries her face in her hand and joins James in laughing. He stops abruptly and cocks his head, regarding her oddly, "That's not what you wanted to tell me... What is it, Evans?"
She looks up at him innocuously, shrugging as she doesso. She leans back and lets the corners of her lips tug upward. "Evans, eh? I was really enjoying being called 'Lily'."
"What was that? I didn't catch that," James teases.
"Oh, nothing." She attempts to dismiss the topic with a blithe wave of her hand.
"Evans?" James says, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
"Yeah, Potter?"
"Evans," he repeats, this time the slight bit exasperated.
"Hmm?" she plays the innocent quite obviously.
He inadvertently moves to run a hand through his hair. He winces when he touches the aching skin on his head and in a moment, Lily is at his side. She holds his wrist firmly and inspects his injury, concern etched blatantly on her fair face.
He catches the smell of apples from her long hair as it lingers near his face.
"What am I missing?" he inquires, pleasantly surprised.
Her eyes widen and she drops his hand instantly, as if it has burned her. She clears her throat but her ears radiate heat, glowing a bright shade of red, "Just checking on my partner in crime. Can't have you becoming any kookier, can we?"
She jokingly punches his uninjured arm. He moves to feel the spot she punches and her smile fades.
"Does it hurt? I'm so sorry, James. I should've known it would be sore. You took quite a beating today and – "
"Merlin, Lily! Stop acting so strange. What's going on? Did something happen between us? Did I do something? Was it something stupid? Because if I did, you should know I'm sorry. It was probably something stupid, wasn't it? Yeah..." he trails off.
She chuckles, shaking her head, "Something did happen but I don't know if it was stupid. Perhaps it was. Perhaps you even regret it. I'll give you a clue: were you planning on asking me something in Potions?"
James is confused for a moment, and annoyed with himself because of it, but then mid-yawn, he remembers. And flushes, " "Did I ask you then?"
"You were going to but you really slaughtered the proposition, so I asked you instead. You kept humming something every time there was any sort of silence. Honestly, how do you beat around the bush for so long?"
"Well, I didn't know how you would react or if you might even agree. Did I yell at you? Please tell me I didn't blurt out something incredibly idiotic," he groans, running a hand down his face. "What did I say? Or no, don't tell me? Wait!" He gawks at her. "You asked me? You agreed! So, uh, do you...fancy me? It wouldn't hurt to hear the words, seeing as I don't particularly remember them. You do fancy me, don't you, you sly minx?"
Lily laughs, sitting up straighter. "If anyone embarrassed themselves, it was probably me. And I think you're lucky for forgetting that awful date on Saturday!"
"Awful?" he flinches. "Was it really that bad?"
"I wouldn't call it bad, actually. Memorable. Very memorable," she says, rubbing the back of her neck, her smile frozen in place.
James glances down at his lap. He picks up his hand to ruffle his hair and then remembers the pain that shot through his skull the first time he'd tried. He licks his lips. "What happened after that? Have we been on speaking terms since then? I guess if it was that terrible then it's better if we just, um, forgot about it? It would be fantastically easy for me, y'know, considering this." He motions to his head.
"That's not funny, Potter. And it's not permanent."
"Right. Look, I like being mates, remember that. If that date," even as he says it, his lips twitch and he tries to stifle the grin that threatens to plaster itself on his face, "messed things up, we could fix that, yeah? Would you like to go back to being mates? I'll try if you will."
She stays quiet. Shaking her head, she mumbles, "I don't want to be mates."
"Oh," is all he says. Any trace of his smile disappears and he hesitantly raises his hand toward his hair only to rethink it and instead wipe a few stray beads of sweat off his cheek. His movements are erratic and he is incapable of staying still. "That's alright. Yeah...We could just be cordial, seeing as we are Head Boy and Girl. There's no need to complicate that. I'll, uh–"
"Oh, shut up, James," she says, startling him. "At least finish listening to the story."
"Agrippa, there's more?" he groans, dropping his head back on his pillow and shutting his eyes. "Do I have to hear it?"
"I think you want to."
"Evans, are you finding this funny?"
"Not at all!" she cries at once. "Just listen, all right? We went to Hogsmeade on Saturday, to the Three Broomsticks. Lunch was interesting. I think learning to play the trombone over the piano, unlike Sirius, was a brilliant choice."
"I told you about that?" he says, liking himself a little less. He wants to kick himself for acting like such an idiot, but he also wants to preserve whatever shred of dignity he has left. Obviously, he can't do both. So he settles on praying for the conversation to end quickly or for his invisibility cloak to magically appear so he can hide his existence.
"No, I mean it. Really. You were wonderful to talk to, you prat. Stop imagining the worst. Besides, I made a bigger fool of myself than you did," she smiles warmly, reassuringly.
"I doubt it, but go on."
She sends him a pointed look, rolling her eyes, "Right. So after lunch, we went to Honeydukes. That was a brilliant idea and I can't believe I never thought of that. Thank you for the sugar quills, Bertie Botts's finest and spearmint floss strings. I'll sneak you a bag of chocolate frogs with Sirius."
"You are a kind lady, Evans," he remarks, tipping his invisible hat in appreciation.
She nods and carries on talking, "I reckon we're their favourites now. Anyhow, we ended the date on a very interesting note."
She switches between sitting with her legs crossed and her legs straightened. Deciding on neither, tapping her foot impatiently, little patches of pink colour her cheeks.
"Spit it out," James says, unable to handle the tension anymore.
"We got, er, busy on the way to Gryffindor Tower," she sighs, perhaps a little dreamily. "That was a nice way to end the date."
"Wait, got busy how?" James poses, blinking rapidly.
He begins to open his mouth, about to guess what might have happened when Lily catches him. More specifically, her lips engage him in another activity altogether. His mind is a befuddled mess for the smallest of moments, a million thoughts running through them. Then he responds, cupping her cheeks and giving into the kiss, the feel of her soft lips against his and the taste of her mouth, sending shivers down his spine.
He feels like he could lose himself in the moment and it might last forever then. She nibbles softly on his lower lip and a fresh wave of thrills runs along his spine. He forgets about the bed, the pain in his arm or the fact that he's in the Hospital Wing.
It's only her and him and nothing else matters.
He gives into the kiss completely then and all he can think about is the feel of her lips on his, how they move so perfectly, or the sweet strawberry taste of her mouth and how he longs to savor it endlessly.
She pulls away reluctantly, beaming at him, one that he imagines he mirrors if not more brightly. She kisses him again, this time chastely and then the moment is gone and she's pulling away. He grudgingly lets his hand fall from her hair. He shifts in his bed and she moves to sit on the adjacent bed but he catches her wrist and inches to the other edge, giving her a place to sit.
She smiles gratefully and sits beside him, her elbow brushing against his injured arm.
"See, do you regret letting me go on now?" she asks.
"Did anymore happen?" he inquires, ignoring her question.
"I don't know if this counts as a date but we didn't do much Head's work on Tuesday night. Or Thursday. Or Friday. Oh, Merlin." She buries her face in her hands, laughing.
He snorts as well, his hand on his stomach.
He feels like kissing her again. He can smell the apple-scented shampoo again. He wants to tangle his hand in her hair again. But he resists. Although, he wears an expression that seems to suggest he's beenstruck by lightning and has a very prominent, goofy grin that he makes no effort to conceal. He does, in fact, try to persuade her into continuing all she had to say.
He likes the sound of her voice. He likes the way she pronounces his name and the different tone with which she says it.
"We are horrible Heads. We have two weeks' worth of point-docking documents to go through. We didn't even bother with our patrol on Thursday," she moans, not lifting her head to look at him.
"What happened next?" he prompts, thoroughly enjoying her flustered appearance.
"Not much. I'll let you remember the rest. Get some rest and I'll see you when you wake up," she says happily. "Damn, I bet Sirius is waiting for his to turn to meet you. The stubborn git. Oh, well, all the more reason for you to rest. Go on, now. Madam Pomfrey will be very pleased to see you taking care of yourself."
James snorts, "What did he do to you?"
"Nothing. He's just being really moody these days. Has he told you anything about what's going on with him?" she asks with a frown, biting on her lower lip.
"Something wrong, Lily?"
She seems thoughtful. Shaking her head, she replies, "I don't know. I hope not, in any case. He's been giving me the cold shoulder lately, but...but maybe he's just got some stuff to deal with. I'm sure it'll blow over." She pauses, meeting his eye. "His jokes are horrid."
James is the first to glance away, "Look, that's just Sirius being Sirius. He probably seems different since you're spending more time with him now? Have you been?" When she nods in affirmation, he goes on, exhaling heavily. "He takes some getting used to once he sees someone in a different way than he had imagined, y'know? He'll come around."
She hums in response. "I suppose so."
She gets up carefully, making sure she doesn't shake his arm. She hesitates, opening her mouth and closing it several times. "I'll send Sirius in, unless you'd prefer to sleep."
"Nah, send him in. I've got a few things I need to sort out with him. I'll see ya around, then?" he asks and wonders if he sounds as hopeful as he feels. At her smile, his spirit elevates and she nods jerkily.
She waves to him, steps closer and kisses him one last time before spinning on her heel and striding out of the infirmary. He watches her leave, her footsteps making scarcely a sound, seeing her hair swish from side-to-side.
She stops at the door, seeking another glimpse of him. And he keeps on grinning long after she's gone. He stares up at the high ceiling and wonders if his face will begin hurting from smiling as much as he does. That doesn't deter him, however. He lies back down, shifting to the centre of the bed, stretching his legs.
"What are you so happy about, you twat?"
The voice snaps him out of his reverie. He faces a highly amused Sirius and merely smirks at him. "What?"
James shrugs. At some point Sirius grows impatient and perhaps slightly annoyed at the lack of information he's being provided. What follows is a wide variety of colourful insults that roll of his tongue like a second language. When he finishes, James stares at him for a moment and promptly dissolves into a fit of laughter, further enraging Sirius.
He feels quite giddy and until he falls asleep, almost as soon as Sirius leaves, still fuming. He smiles at the world, perfectly content and untroubled. Although, he supposes he's going to have to tell Sirius about his hospital bed snog session eventually.
Who knew colliding headlong with a Bludger had its advantages?
A/N:- Thank you for reading! Reviews are what patronuses are made of so please review