Hello all of you beautiful people! So for the past week, I have been working really hard on this special little one-shot for you guys. This is the reason as to why I haven't updated any of my other stories *cough cough*Marauders and Romance*cough cough*
This takes place in the Marauders sixth year at Hogwarts, so James and Lily aren't exactly friends yet, but aren't enimies either.
I hope you all like it because I'm actually quite proud of this.
Over the Christmas holidays, the sixth year Gryffindor boy's dormitory was filled not with caroling or any holiday cheer for that matter, but instead very loud coughs, sneezes, and sniffling. There was also a fair amount of groaning and complaining going on too. Why, you ask? Well, because all of the Marauders, excluding James, had come down with the awful flu that had been going around the school right in time for the holidays. Now, you might think that James was lucky to be the only one who was still feeling up to par, but keep in mind that he had to take care of Sirius, who complained twenty four seven, Remus, who was much more needy than usual and much sicker than the others because of his lycanthropy, and Peter, who actually slept through most of the commotion.
James, on the other hand, was up all night trying to keep Remus' fever down or fetching blankets for Sirius, and checking on Peter. Things had been getting crazy ever since the first day of Christmas holidays.
"Yup." James looked at the thermometer that had been in Sirius' mouth a few seconds earlier. "You're sick too." Sirius groaned and coughed.
"I hate this." He said, glaring at the floor.
"Hey, you hardly ever get sick. It could be worse, you could be like the rest of us and catch everything that's going around." James replied.
"Why didn't you catch this horrible bug?" Sirius grumbled. "You've been around Remus for the past two days and you don't catch a thing, whereas I've been keeping my distance and what do I get? This bloody sickness. And on the first day of Christmas holidays."
"Oh, stop complaining. Here's an extra blanket and some pepperup. After you take your potion, I want you to- Hold on." James rushed over to Remus, who had just started coughing violently. "Whoa, just breathe, Moony... That's right. You okay?"
"I'm fine," Remus croaked. "Can I have some water?"
"Of course." James replied, walking over to the windowsill.
"Jaaaaaames," Sirius moaned. "I'm still cold."
"I'm kind of busy at the moment!" James replied. "Shut up and drink your potion." He poured a glass of water and walked it back over to Remus. "You need anything else?"
"No, go take care of-" Remus interrupted himself with a sneeze. "Sirius and-" another sneeze. "Peter."
James pulled apart the hangings to Peter's bed and found him fast asleep, so then he went over to Sirius.
"How are you doing, Padfoot?"
"Horrible. I'm so tired and achy and my throat hurts and my head..." Sirius mumbled, trailing off near the end. James pressed his palm to Sirius' forehead.
"Your fever's high." James stated. "You should be drinking more water."
"Oh, well you know, it might be easier if I had some water in the first place."
"Shut it, Padfoot. Obviously I'm getting you water as we speak." James filled up the glass and handed it to Sirius. "I'll be right back, I need to check something. Will you three be okay for ten minutes?"
"We'll be fine." Remus reassured him. "Go ahead."
Lily Evans was headed to enjoy a relaxing morning in the library. Or so she thought, at least until she saw James Potter of all people running after her. He stopped, breathless, and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Evans," he said.
"Potter," she replied, her lips curving into a sarcastic smile. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Can you do me a huge favor?" He asked.
"I guess so." Lily answered. "What's wrong?"
"Well, Remus has been sick for two days, and now Sirius and Peter are also sick, and I'm going crazy up there! Can you come help me er, take care of things a bit?" He smiled hopefully. "Please?"
Lily didn't answer.
"Pretty please?"
She rolled her eyes.
"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"
"Potter," she sighed.
"Extra pretty rainbow sparkly please with unicorns dancing on top?"
"What?" Lily asked. "I'm coming. Is it just a cold, or...?"
"Well, I'm pretty positive that it's the flu. Peter just sleeps most of the time, but Remus has a really high fever so we kind of need to monitor that, and Sirius is being his usual drama queen self so, yeah. That's about it." James replied. They made it up to the boy's dormitory and Lily looked uncertainly around the room.
"So, uh, what do you need me to do?" She asked.
"Can you go check on Sirius and Peter?" James asked. "I would do it myself, but I'm a little bit concerned about..." He gestured to Remus,who was curled up on his side in an uneasy sleep.
"Yeah, sure." She replied. This was going to be a long day.
"Evans!" Sirius yelled. "Evaaaaaaaans."
"What?" Lily asked.
"Where's Prongs?"
"Who?"
"James. James Potter. James Potter is Prongs. Prongs is James Potter." Sirius replied sarcastically.
"Oh, I think he went to the hospital wing to get more potions or something." Lily replied. "Why do you need James?"
"Because I just came up with another stupid Marauder dare."
"Excuse me?"
"A stupid Marauder dare. It's pretty self explanatory." Sirius said innocently. "I was thinking that..." He broke off to sneeze. "Never mind."
"Oh-kay," Lily answered, dragging it out and turning away. "Looks like Remus finally fell asleep."
"Yup. Now entertain me."
"How about no?"
"Pleeeeeaaase?"
"No!"
At that moment, James finally walked in.
"Oh, thank you!" Lily exclaimed. "Go entertain Sirius."
"Sirius, stop bothering Evans and go to sleep." James said.
"But I'm not tired!" Sirius protested through a yawn.
"Go to sleep!" Lily and James both said, loud, but not loud enough to wake up the other two sleeping Marauders.
"You know, you two would make great parents." Sirius yawned.
"Shut it, Black!" Lily replied. James just had a horrified expression on his face.
"Me? Being a parent? Padfoot, you're implying that I'm..." James paused and lowered his voice. "Responsible."
"Well, that's a far fetched fantasy." Lily said.
"Hey! I can be responsible if I want to!"
"Sure."
"Ah, look at you two." Sirius grinned. "Arguing like an old married couple."
"Shut it, Black!"
"Good news, Moony!" James exclaimed, looking at the thermometer. "Your fever went down and it's almost back to normal."
"Oh, that's good." Remus yawned. "I think I'm going to sleep some more."
"You're still feeling sick?"
"Yeah, my throat kind of hurts and I'm exhausted, but I'm feeling much better now." Remus admitted, curling up underneath the comforter. Meanwhile, Lily was across the room dealing with Sirius...
"If you would just drink the potion... Ugh!" Lily groaned in frustration. "Never mind, you can stay sick for all I care. You're way too stubborn."
"You wouldn't do that to me, would you Evans?" Sirius asked, faking a pout. "I'm too young and innocent."
"Oh my- Potter! Get over here and help me!"
James walked over with his wand in hand. "Padfoot, swallow. The. Potion."
"No way! It tastes like... Like troll vomit!" Sirius protested.
"And I'm sure you have much experience with that, don't you?" Lily asked sarcastically. "Just. Swallow. It."
"No."
"Alright Padfoot, I didn't want to do this, but..." James pulled out his wand. "Rictumsempra!" Sirius immediately burst out laughing.
"What... D-did... You... Do?" He gasped in between the laughter.
"Tickling charm," James replied smoothly. "Since you didn't want to cooperate..."
"Potter, are you sure that it's a good idea to-"
"Lily, it's fine." He replied as Sirius' laughs turned into violent coughs and he fell off of the bed, gasping for air. "And... I stand corrected."
"What's the counter curse?" Lily asked frantically.
"What, you expect me to know?" James retorted.
"Why in the world would you cast a spell on someone without knowing the counter curse?"
"Oh, well, clearly I'm not Little Miss Perfect who thinks of everything beforehand!"
"You should always think thing through beforehand!"
"Well, I-" James paused for a second while Lily glared at him. And suddenly, he let out a huge sneeze. The room was dead silent as everyone exchanged worried glances. Surely James wasn't coming down with their flu?
Six more sneezes and a coughing fit followed before Lily sat James down in a chair and stuck the thermometer in his mouth. While they waited, she figured out a counter curse for Sirius and was coaxing sips of water into him to soothe the coughing. Then, back to James...
"Yup." She sighed. "Slight fever. Why didn't you tell me you were feeling sick?"
"I didn't know," James replied innocently. "No really, I was just kind of achy, but I figured I was just tired from lack of sleep these past few nights." He sneezed again, and Lily's expression softened.
"Come on, James." She said, grabbing onto his arm. "Let's get you into bed." He just looked at her, incredulous. Lily rolled her eyes. "What?"
"You called me by my given name." James replied.
"Of course I did." She said. "I think after all of this, it's safe to say that we're friends... Unless you have any objections?"
"Er, no objections... Lily." He smirked. "Hey, since we're friends now, can I call you Lily Flower?"
"Absolutely not."
"Ah, well it was worth a try."
Well, this is by far the longest one-shot I have ever written. How was it? Was was your favorite part? Leave me a review or a request for another story and I'll see you all soon, hopefully! :)