The worst part about being sick at Hogwarts was that there was nothing to do. At least when she was at home Lily could watch bad daytime television and her mom would make her chicken-noodle soup. Here all there was to do was read or play exploding snap, which admittedly wasn't nearly as much fun ever since Lily had singed her eyebrows when playing with Marlene last weekend.
Sighing heavily, Lily picked up her charms textbook and opened to their lesson that day; if she couldn't be in class she could at least do the reading. Pausing to blow her nose, Lily stopped when she suddenly heard a thump and a cry of surprise from the room above. Looking around the empty common room, she was confused; everyone should be at class by now.
A thundering noise turned Lily's head over towards the stairs leading to the boys' dormitories. A moment later a very disheveled James Potter emerged, his tie in hand and his hair somehow even messier than usual. Pausing quickly to check his feet for shoes, he started towards the portrait hole then stopped abruptly in surprise.
"Evans! What're you doing skipping class? Don't tell me my efforts to rub off on you have finally succeeded!" James' cheeky grin was made even more charming by his lopsided glasses and inside-out shirt.
"I'm sick, that's all," Lily answered, turning back to her reading now that it was just Potter.
"That stinks," James said. "Well, I guess it's better to be sick now than over the holidays, don't you think? Oh yeah, I was going to ask- are you staying for Christmas this year?"
"Yeah, I am," she said with a pang of sadness. She thought James might have heard the remorse in her voice because when she looked up he was looking at her concernedly. Quickly changing the subject, Lily asked him, "James, do you need help with your tie?" He had been struggling with it for the past few minutes- it was quite pathetic actually.
"Thanks, Evans," James grinned sheepishly as she got up off the couch to help him. "I usually have Moony do it but I overslept this morning."
"Too busy setting up pranks and causing chaos to get any sleep I assume?" Lily said as she finished tying his tie and stepped back.
"Something like that," James laughed lightly and she saw a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "It's nothing, Evans, just be glad you weren't at the Slytherin table for breakfast." Seeing her shocked look he laughed again. "Thanks for the tie." James smiled at her and gathered up his books, shoving them into his bag and heading towards the door. "See you later, Evans. Feel better!"
He disappeared out of the portrait hole, leaving Lily to stand there watching him ruffle his hair as he ambled towards Charms until the door closed and she snapped back to her senses.
Sitting back on the couch and picking up her discarded book, Lily's thoughts returned to the holidays. James hadn't known what had upset her, and she didn't intend for anyone to find out.
Leaning back onto the cushions and hugging the book to her chest, Lily felt her eyes sting with suppressed tears. Just last night Lily had received an owl from Petunia reminding her of their agreement- Lily would stay at Hogwarts for Christmas this year due to Petunia's insufferable boyfriend Vernon spending Christmas with the Evans's.
Just the thought of not seeing her parents this year sent tears to Lily's eyes, though she quickly dabbed at them with the sleeves of her sweater. Whatever she did, Lily would not let Petunia know how much she was hurting her. The fact that she didn't want to see her own sister for the holidays… No. Lily wasn't going to think about it.
Cracking open her book to the section on Patronuses, Lily sank back into the cushions and began reading. A little thought was nagging in the back of her mind though; how James had seemed up close. His hazel eyes shining behind his glasses, his infectious grin, the way he smelled of oranges and butterbeer… Since when had she looked twice at James Potter? And why was her heart beating so fast? Lily shook her head and returned to her studying, though with a slight smile on her face.
"What happened to you Prongs? You said you were going to meet us at breakfast," Remus asked James as he joined their table in the back of the Charms' classroom. After a quick apology to Professor Flitwick which included the tiny professor congratulating him on their recent quidditch win against Ravenclaw, James had weaved his way back to the marauders' usual table and now took a seat beside Remus.
"Prongs needs his beauty sleep," Sirius smirked from across the table where he sat reclined in his chair, not glancing up from his textbook.
"Shove off, Padfoot, we all know who spends half an hour each morning on their hair." James grinned at his friend then turned to the others. "So, what did I miss?"
"Well," Peter said. "The Slytherin fifth-years have all mysteriously been taken ill after this morning's eggs turned all their hair bright green."
"I think Malfoy's more upset about this than losing the quidditch cup last year, " Sirius remarked, snickering.
James roared with laughter and turned to Remus, "Nice wandwork with that one by the way, Moony. Shame I wasn't there."
"Next time I'm thinking we put leeches in their porridge," Sirius said. "Only you better promise to be there, Prongs." He laughed and continued. "By the way, who did your tie? I didn't even know you could put on your glasses yourself, let alone do your own tie."
James smiled nervously and looked down at it, "Oh, um, Lily was in the common room so she fixed it up for me on my way out."
Sirius sat forward and gaped at James, "Evans fixed your tie? Did she somehow forget the last four years? Why was she even still there?" He twisted in his chair, searching the room for a flash of bright red hair.
"She's sick today," James answered him. "She does seem a bit nicer though this year now that I think about it."
"Maybe she has amnesia," Sirius said.
"Or maybe you're just not such an arse anymore, Prongs," Peter interjected, not even looking up from his paper.
Ignoring him, James continued, lost in thought. "She did seem a little down today, besides being sick."
"She got a letter from her sister during our patrol last night," Remus said. "She didn't say anything about it, but I didn't get the impression it was good news."
James opened his mouth, about to say something, when he was interrupted by Professor Flitwick arriving at their table.
"Now boys," the tiny wizard squeaked. "I hope you've all thought of your happy memories by now. Now let's try the incantation. Repeat after me: Expecto Patronum
"Expecto Patronum," James repeated emotionlessly with the others. He hadn't given much thought to his happy memory yet- did something in his imagination count? Nothing he could think of seemed good enough. Perhaps with this change in Lily though, he thought, he might have some happy memories to look forward to in the future.
Contented with this, James repeated the spell and, with a flick of his wand, a wisp of silver vapor erupted out of the tip of his wand, causing Professor Flitwick to squeal in delight. James grinned to himself; he had a feeling good times would be happening just around the corner.