On A Scale of One to Ten
Requested on tumblr: Lily starts falling for an insecure, yet charming crippled james, and naturally when his injury is miraculously recovered, girls throw themselves at him.
"You have to let me see him."
The desperate plea that came from the intruder's lips was wrought with emotion as he pushed past a startled Lily Evans to the bed where a badly wounded man sat awaiting the Healer visit—Lily's visit. Instead of assessing what had brought the man into the rehabilitation ward in the first place, Lily was assessing the boy who had come charging into the room like the patient was on his deathbed.
The bloke (not the injured one) flew into the hospital ward only moments before Lily, taking out two guards and a door with the flick of his wand. He wore a leather traveling cloak and his wand was tucked in the black bun stop his head. The boy was handsome with black hair, grey eyes, and perfect cheekbones. His pale skin was akin to the models she saw in Witch Weekly but his expression was less sensual and more roguish.
The boy stared down at the man in bed, exasperated, "Your owl left out the part where Alice Longbottom buzzed your hair off, you look ridiculous."
"You're one to talk. Why is your nose bleeding?" The boy in the bed moved painfully when he spoke to the man with the bun.
The man fingered his nose delicately, blood was indeed dripping from it onto his cloak, "Their reckless security guard stuck his wand up my nose when I rolled out of his tackle on the staircase."
Lily has to hand it to the stranger; he cared a lot for the man in the bed. Nonetheless Lily was still a Healer and had to follow the rules of the hospital. She stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder delicately.
"Alright," she said hastily, "you've bloody well seen he's alive, now you have to leave."
"Why?" the man spun on his heel to glower at Lily dangerously.
Lily straightened her shoulders so that they were eye level, "Only family members are allowed to visit patients."
"Listen Ginger." Lily frowned at the crack on her auburn hair, "I am his family so unless you want to be healing yourself I suggest you Back. Off."
The boy in the bed exhaled, as if the irritability of his mate only entertained him. Lily, however, was not amused and made it known with a flicker of disapproval on her face.
"What's your name?" She demanded.
"Serious?"
Lily took a deep breath, reaching for her own wand stuffed in the pocket of her white uniform.
"Clearly I'm being serious." Her blood was boiling, "what's your name?"
"Serious."
Lily was going to punch him in the face, magic be damned.
The patient spoke up cooperatively from the bed, "No, his name is serious, spelled s-i-r-i-u-s."
"That's a stupid name." she couldn't help saying and the boy in the bed chuckled.
Lily glanced between her patient and 'Sirius' suspiciously. She wondered for a moment if Annabeth and Karlie from reception were playing a trick on Lily for a laugh, Merlin knew they got bored answering owls all day. When neither boy shouted "gotcha!" Lily was forced to accept that the boy standing protectively over her ward was really named Sirius.
"Fine." She stated coolly, "Sirius, I need you to leave."
The boy clad in leather raised expectant eyebrows at her, " Healer..." he leaned forward to read her badge carefully, "Evans." He quirked an eyebrow, "Healer Evans, I can't leave."
Lily jutted her thumb at the door that Sirius had come storming through minutes before, "I need to speak to my patient without you interrupting every second like a blundering idiot so unless you want to be banned from the hospital grounds and never see your boyfriend again, I suggest you turn around and return to where you came from."
The boy in the bed moaned when a bubble of a laugh escaped his throat.
Sirius' eyes were a cool grey that reflected challenge, "and if I refuse?"
"I'm checking you into the bloody mental ward." Lily shook her finger at the man, "And you can stay locked up with the rest of the loons!"
"He checked in there once," for being in pain, her patient seemed to be enjoying the argument between his Healer and boyfriend, "I'm afraid they kicked him out immediately."
"On what terms?" Sirius looked over his shoulder to grin at the boy in the bed.
Lily, not wanting to hear anymore, grabbed the boy by his shoulder before anymore could be said. Using all her force (and a wand pointed into his back) Lily managed to push the boy from the room.
"You. Can. Come. Back. Later!" She huffed before closing and locking the door behind Sirius.
She could still hear his disagreements on the other end of the door.
"Sorry bout him," the patient spoke merrily from the bed, "he means well."
Lily hadn't even had a chance to address the boy in the bed, let alone learn his name. When she'd arrived at room 201 after a debrief from the lead rehab healer, she'd not expected spending the first half of her exam yelling at a boy named Sirius. Lily focused her attention to the boy in the bed and sucked in a breath at his appearance.
Someone had buzzed his hair down to the scalp, likely in a hurry to try and clean off whatever had been poured on his head. His left eye was squinting at her, his right eye completely swollen shut and red. Some of his skin was eaten away and Lily was certain she saw bone in some places without getting close. It looked like someone had poured acid on his face and left him on the ground to rot. He looked awful despite having the appetite for joshing with Sirius. Lily noted the affects of skin damage started from his hairline all the way down and into his hospital gown.
"It looks that bad, huh?"
Lily was surprised the boy could speak at all, the right corner of his lips were bloodied and cracked. Lily didn't answer and instead looked away from the boy, busying herself with his chart. It was well written, surprisingly. He was being transferred from the main Hospital in northern London to the rehab center for his skin issues.
James Potter.
21.
Unknown component irritated skin on contact.
Rehabilitation paid for by the Auror Department.
"How long has this infliction been going on?" Lily asked James, leaning against his bed frame to take notes with a handy pen she kept tucked in her pocket.
"I was just born this good looking I guess."
James cracked a joke. Lily looked up from her papers to his face, managing a small smile. He was quite playful and attentive for someone who'd had their skin eaten alive. Normally the wards she rehabilitated were sour and moody, or at the very least miserable. James Potter was suddenly a breathe of fresh air to her mundane job.
"I meant your skin, James." She said softly, hiding her smile from him even though it appeared he couldn't see her very well.
"Oh it happened about a week ago." James said chirpily, "I think it's improved."
"Yeah?" she continued writing.
His tone flexed egotistically, "Yeah, because all the ladies at the front desk fell at my feet as they dragged me in here."
Lily snorted and spoke without thinking, "Potter, your skin is literally rotting off your face." Lily spun to face him, immediately sorry her insensitive retort had slipped out.
Instead of looking angered though, his lip was curled into a half smile, "I guess they weren't crying because of my good looks then?"
She liked him. He was shrewd in a sort of charming way that had caused a smile to filter across her features more than once. Looks aside, he was the first man in ages to make her smile so authentically. She placed down her clipboard and walked over to the right side of the bed. She wrinkled her nose as she got closer and smelled the indistinguishable smell of putrid flesh. His normal skin was tan but the right half of his face was red, white, and disgusting.
"On a scale of one to ten how much does it hurt?" She asked, reaching out with a gloved hand to touch his face.
"One hundred and twenty six."
"How accurate."
"I'm very precise."
James winced when her hand touched his burned face. Some of the skin crumpled under her touch and she wondered why the main Hospital hadn't figured out what substance caused the skin irritation. It seemed they had managed to stop the skin disease from spreading but it still looked awful. James hissed when her fingers hit a bloody spot on his temple.
"You certainly did a number on yourself." She murmured.
"I'm an auror and we did an underground run of illegal substances." He enlightened, "some git poured this nasty yellow juice all over me when I was wrestling him."
Lily leaned closer and could see a bit of yellow among the white pus on his scalp. Now that she was close, he wasn't looking at her, instead his left eyes squinted at the sheets. He seemed to be holding his breathe too, as if afraid to startle her.
She bit her lip and wondered aloud, "odd that it's eating away your skin."
"If you could make it stop eating my face, that'd be brill."
Lily couldn't resist teasing him as she pulled away from his temple, "feeling that self confidence draining with each passing second?"
"My self confidence left the moment you walked through those doors."
She took ahold of his hands on his lap and yanked him off the pillow briefly. He winced at the movement and when she followed the trail of damaged skin past his collar Lily felt a lump in her throat.
"We need to take your gown off." She commanded.
"At least let me take you to dinner first." He retorted gallantly.
Lily ignored his words and instead let her gloved hand wander to the neck of the hospital gown he wore. She unhooked the first button and pulled it aside to revel red lines on his chest. The tainted skin continued all the way down to his abdomen. With each breath he took, Lily could tell the pitiful skin wounded him. Lily wondered how a man who had to be in so much pain, could be so cheery.
Lily could tell where the trail of mystery acid had ventured too. She could almost see the accident happening. The man must've dumped the acid on James' forehead and the liquid seeped down the right side of his face, neck, and chest. Someone had done a shotty buzz cut to his hair, trying to help when the accident first happened. Lily examined the wound closely, ignoring James' sounds of protests each time she touched the burned skin.
The door opened as Lily was probing his body and James jumped a little from the intrusion, trying to cover the scars with the fabric pooled at his waist. Lily grabbed his good shoulder so he couldn't move before glancing behind her shoulder. Alissa Godders stood in the doorway, her face pallid as she considered at James with shock.
"Godders get me some tweezers," Lily ordered the newer healer to break her from the stare that made James' skin warm under her fingertips.
"Of course." Godders seemed thankful for the excuse to leave the room abruptly.
Lily turned her head back to James.
His left eye peeked at her anxiously, "Am I that ghastly looking?"
"Your boyfriend will love you no matter what." She joked.
"It'd be fine if he was my boyfriend." James chuckled, "But he's my brother."
Lily quirked an eyebrow, "I can see the family resemblance."
"I'm the better looking one, obviously."
Lily thought she liked him best when he was smiling.
"Don't worry." She assured James before Godders returned with tweezers, "we'll have you back to your Prince Charming looks in no time Mr. Potter."
She lied to him of course.
It took them a week to figure out out exactly what toxic substance was eating away at James' skin. Lily only figured it out thanks to having an extensive background in potion brewing. A normal healer would've likely missed the signs of yellowing skin that just shouted wild parsnip juice. Parsnip nectar was brewed with a few other dangerous contagions to create the potion James was attacked with. As such, he was facing a lot of recovery time, waiting for his skin to heal and regrow.
Lily was granted the chance to be the Head of his recovery team. She spent most of her time with him and even invented a salve of healing properties that included honey and mint. The salve calmed his burning skin and had to be rubbed in twice a day. James was also ordered massive amounts of skelegro and had to walk around his room once a day to keep his muscles moving. The first week Lily had to help him walk and she was thankful he was only a head taller than her.
Originally, Lily only saw James twice a day. Once to administer new dressings to the pus filled cavities and a second time to give him (forcefully) skelegrow. Other healers refused to go into the room because of the status of his wounds and Lily couldn't blame them. The room itself often smelled like death, except for when Lily applied the healing salve. After being there a week Lily got James to take a bath, if only reluctantly when he realized she'd have to join him in the bathroom. He couldn't get anything wet above his torso but he seemed more relaxed after he sat waist deep in hot water.
Even after a bath once a week, the other Healers only trusted Lily to handle James when it came to intensive care, they only worked with him on her days off.
"But it's just so gross seeing the bone under his skin." Alissa Godders complained as Lily went over how to apply the salve on her first weekend away.
"And the smell is death." Angie Hopkins snapped her bubblegum, "I'd rather give a flea bath to a werewolf."
"It'll get better." Lily told the healers, "The skelegrow will help repair his bone and skin."
None of the other girls seemed as sure as Lily.
On the second week of skelegrow, Lily entered James' room with the salve and found James staring out a small window at the street below. A late spring snowfall had dusted the courtyard in white powder. A few patients and healers were strolling around, enjoying the snowy atmosphere. Lily decided to offer James the opportunity to go outside and see the snow but he immediately turned her down.
"Don't want to scare anyone away."
It broke her heart that behind his playful tone there was a note of truth to his voice. Lily placed his salve on the bedside table and noted that James still had lunch, untouched, on his bed. Lily glanced at the boy by the window with worry.
"Are you not hungry?" She asked him.
James casually glanced over his shoulder at the food, shrugged, and then turned back to the window. Lily crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
"James."
"Evans." He mimicked her motherly tone.
"You're re-growing your entire epidermis system." She reminded, "You need to eat."
"Skelegrow makes me sick to my stomach." James shoved his fingers into the pockets of his hospital robe as he turned to stare at Lily.
The right side of his face drooped from the pain and the left side of his face was sorrowful. She couldn't stay mad at him and uncrossed her arms with a sigh. She stepped towards James to help him back to the bed. James knew the drill and started unbuttoning his buttons to let his robes pool by his waist.
"Why didn't you say something?" Lily crooned as she washed her hands and prepared to rub the salve into his damaged skin, "I could've given you a potion for the nausea."
James shrugged his left shoulder; "I've never been hungry when I've taken skelegrow."
"You act as though you take it all the time."
The scent of honey filled the room as she took the salve from a hot plate where it was being warmed. She leaned down beside him and dipped her fingers into the mixture, the mint already tingling her fingertips.
"I played quidditch in school."
Lily eyed his lean figure, "seeker?"
"Seeker?" He sounded offended, "I'm a keeper." He proudly puffed his chest, "Gryffindor captain and house cup winner."
"How lovely." Lily smirked and then let her fingers seep the salve into his temple.
James hissed and pulled away from her hand so she gripped his shoulder, keeping him close. His face was screwed up in pain whenever she rubbed the salve into his wounds. It made her sick to her stomach just thinking about how painful his wounds had to be. He struggled to even breathe as she slowly worked her way to the less delicate portions of his injury. When she made it to the red lines on his chest he was able to speak again.
"I don't remember a Lily at Hogwarts."
Lily shrugged as she let her salve soak into his wounds, "my father was transferred to Paris for work and so I went to Beauxbatons."
James managed to joke, even though he was in pain, "how tragic."
Lily grinned at him impishly, "Do you have something against my school?"
"Only that Hogwarts is way better." James scoffed, reaching for his cold toast and biting into it heartily as he teased her, "Why not just go to Hogwarts?"
Lily explained as her fingers ran over his taught chest, "I did get the letter for Hogwarts but your Headmaster suggested I stay closer to home and study at Beauxbatons."
"Unbelievable." He muttered as she wiped her hands off on a spare cloth and stood up, "I bet you even speak French, traitor."
"Tu n'as pas tort." She hummed and he stuck out his tongue, prompting a smile from her.
"You would've been a Gryffindor like me if you went to Hogwarts." James told her as she helped him back into his Hospital gown, "You're very plucky."
Lily rolled her eyes as she made her way to the door, "says the Auror."
"Being an Auror isn't always heists and dark magic outbreaks." James countered.
"No?" she couldn't resist leaning against the door to his room and she stared at the left side of his face, fraught with concentration.
He said delicately, "Sometimes I wish I had just been a professional quidditch player."
Lily blinked at him in surprise, "you don't like being an auror?"
James replied rather bitterly, "it gets kind of lonely sometimes."
Lily was determined to make sure James didn't ever feel lonely. She managed to get ahold of his mate Sirius in the hallway after a quick visit one day. She encouraged Sirius to bring more of James' mates by, hoping it would improve his self-esteem. He needed more socialization outside of his Healer and rogue brother.
Lily had assumed that Sirius would have a party of people by the next day but instead, Sirius returned to the rehab ward with two other boys about James' age. The first was a sickly looking boy with sandy hair and the second was a short boy with rosy cheeks. They definitely weren't her first pick of friends for an auror but she was happy when she entered James' room that night to a real smile from her ward.
The boy who looked sickly returned every Wednesday with a stack of cards, often in the company of Sirius. Lily eventually met him after helping James get a shower one day and learned his name was Remus. The shorter friend who popped in after his night shifts was Peter and he brought Lily and James sweets from Honeydukes. Lily came to look forward to Peter's visits the most.
One thing Lily did notice as three weeks turned into a month was that James never had any family visit. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were his only visitors. Not even any of the Aurors from James' office showed up. It struck Lily as odd that a boy who claimed he didn't like being lonely was so…alone.
Either way, James seemed content with his friends and was improving steadily with each day.
On week six, James' right eye reopened. Lily entered his room in the morning to find two very bright and dazzling hazel orbs squinting back at her. It caught her off guard and she almost dropped the skelegrow on the floor. Over the next few days her green eyes sought his pretty hazel orbs in wonder.
Lily had never once felt any wonderment in eye color but she found herself staring at James' eyes as she rubbed her healing ointment over his face. He never stared back at her either, not as he chattered on about something Sirius had said over dinner or even when they sat in complete silence. Lily was glad he hadn't noticed her increased stares as she fell in love with the way his eyes lit up when he laughed.
Soon she learned that he wasn't staring at her because vision hadn't always been his strong suit, even before the accident.
"I wear glasses you know." He told her one night as she was preparing to leave him.
"Oh?" She was busy writing on his chart, the skin on his chest was almost completely healed and even his temple looked a thousand times better.
"Yeah." He was picking at his dinner still, "I can't see well without them. In fact, everything's still a blur."
"Until your skin isn't as delicate I don't want you putting glasses on," she told him, slipping the chart on the edge of the bed, "your chest is still raw and that got the least of the toxic parsnip, so I'd say your face has at least another three weeks of healing."
"Hey Lily?"
She loved when he called her by her first name. She'd never felt so relaxed with a patient before and it should've alarmed her but everything about him in her life seemed so…normal. She raised her eyebrows at him expectantly.
James moved the spaghetti on his plate around with a fork before asking, "I know tomorrow you're off but I was wondering if you would like to come in for a bit to go for a walk around the courtyard?"
Lily perked up, "you want to go outside?"
It was the best thing she'd heard from James all day. He had been avoiding public places, disgraced by his looks. It was a step in a positive direction that he wanted to go out and Lily couldn't bring herself to say no.
"Of course." She beamed, "I'll stop by after teatime."
When she arrived the next day wearing her normal robes it caught the receptionists off guard. Annabeth even sniffed indelicately at Lily's auburn hair, down and in pretty waves. Karlie put down the phone she was taking on when Lily scanned her wand to check into the building.
"Isn't it your day off?" Karlie popped bubblegum in her mouth when she spoke.
"Yeah." Lily told the administrators, "but 201 requested an attendant for a walk outside in the courtyard and I don't mind coming in for a bit."
"201?" Annabeth's interest perked, "you mean the Auror?"
Karlie waggled her eyebrows, "Kristina Baldwin removed the bandages this morning since you were out and apparently you were keeping it a secret about how fit the Auror was under all the-"
"Skin mutilation?" Lily responded drably, "I wasn't hiding anything. You lot couldn't even look at him."
"It was gross." Annabeth argued, "Not all of us have stomachs of steel."
"He's much better looking without all the blood and gore." Karlie giggled, prompting a grin from Annabeth.
She didn't know why it annoyed her that Annabeth and Karlie had taken a sudden interest in James but she was still scowling when she knocked on James' door before entering.
The sight before her was a hundred times better than it was when she had first met James. He stood straighter in the middle of the room, both eyes sparkling when she entered. The bandages were still covering the right side of his face but she could see normal heathy skin appearing on his scalp. Little bits of black hair were starting to pop up on his skull too. When James arrived at the hospital his hair had been buzzed to his head, now the black strands were starting to develop creativity with the help of the skelegrow.
Even covered in bandages, he looked like a new person.
"You look great James." She breathed.
"Thanks." He flushed under her compliment, "I wish I could say the same about you but I still can't see that well."
"I'm nothing special." Lily snorted, "Just a frumpy redhead with awkwardly long legs."
"I like long legs." James scoffed as she helped lead him out of his room and down a set of stairs until they pushed open a door outside into the cool spring air.
The trees were starting to bud and a few white flowers were popping up around the courtyard. Lily led James to a bench by one of the smaller trees, sitting him down comfortably before falling next to him. They sat in silence, content with each others company, until Lily broke the silence with one of her many questions.
"Do you have family?"
"My mum and dad died three years ago." He seemed to know what she was insinuating, "I'm the last Potter."
"Sirius?"
"Adopted." He explained, "He ran away from a bad home."
"That's sad." Lily muttered, folding her hands in her lap.
"Nah," James replied, "I think my dad and mum expected I'd stay a bachelor and are happy I've got him, even if it's not forever."
"Not the marrying type?" Lily tried to imagine anyone but herself at his side, it was hard.
"I'd love to get married." James countered, "but it's hard being an Auror, I'm always traveling." He chuckled, "except for right now. I've haven't been in one place so long since my last year of school."
Lily nodded, "I grew up in Cokesworth, moved to Paris, and then back to London. It's fun to travel but I like staying in one place."
"What made you come back to England?" James asked, "not enough hospitals in Paris?"
Lily rolled her eyes, "no, there were plenty of Paris hospitals."
"Buexbaton's kicked you out, didn't they?" he jested.
She poked his arm, "I just missed home."
"So even though you lived in Paris, you considered London home?" James seemed to be trying to understand her life, even if she didn't quite understand it herself.
"Home isn't a place that you live in," Lily replied poetically, "it's where your heart is."
James' shoulders dropped, "you moved home for a boy then?"
"What?" She couldn't resist snickering and watched as his shoulders relaxed, "no, Merlin, I didn't mean like as in romantic heart-my Dad and mum moved back to Cokesworth my sixth year and I missed living near them."
"Are they both magic?"
Lily shook her head, "I'm muggleborn." She sighed, "I was quite the sore thumb at Buexbatons. English. Red hair. Muggleborn. Potions geek."
James looked at her in surprise. She blushed under his impressed stare.
"What?"
James shook his head in awe before stating, "it's just-I wish we'd gone to school together."
She was glad he was hard of vision so he couldn't see the wide smile erupt on her face.
As days went on James only improved. Lily watched as the charming Auror slowly became every Healer's favorite patient on the second floor. Lily no longer was involved solely in his care as more healers were stepping up. The day after her weekend Lily walked into his room to find that he and his mates were entertaining half the staff. James' bandages were growing smaller and smaller. New patches of raw baby skin were appearing.
Most impressive was James' hair. It grew at an astonishing rate and was all over his head. It fell in disarray that led Lily to believe James didn't own a hairbrush, not that he needed it. Lily marveled in the ability of James' hair to have a mind of its own-defying the laws of gravity. It was like a transformation in Lily's favorite fairy tale where the Princess kissed the Beast who turned into a handsome Prince. Lily hadn't kissed James but he certainly was only improving tenfold under her care. Most of the scarring was disappearing with the help of Lily's salve and with each passing day he looked less like a beast and more like a Prince. Lily only wished she could work up the gall to tell him she fancied him something awful without sounding like an idiot.
James got to take his first shower alone and when he emerged wearing regular clothes Lily almost dropped her quill. His hair fell to one side of his face and looked softer than anything. His clothes were loose on his frame but the sleeves were rolled up to show off his tan skin. He laughed when he looked at himself in the mirror and Lily had to bite back her own laugh.
James was being released in a week and Lily was going to miss him terribly.
Some of the other healers were hoping to give him his last dose of skelegrow but Lily was certain she'd stun all of them if they even tried.
"He's so handsome." Annabeth gushed at lunch to the Healers, "who knew underneath all that was a fit gent?"
"There's more to him than just his looks you know."
Lily couldn't stop herself from snapping at Annabeth and everyone at the table stared at her.
Lily stared at her plate the rest of lunch. By dinnertime she managed to get the skelegrow before half the female population and took it to 201. Her hands were shaking. The door to James' room was partially open and he was talking to Sirius who had arrived when she was downstairs with James' glasses in hand.
"I can't thank you enough for bringing my specs." James was saying to Sirius thankfully, "I hated being so blind."
"I can't believe you managed to go so long without running into anything." Sirius barked a laugh.
"Lily's been helping me get around." Lily couldn't believe she was eavesdropping or that her heart raced when James said her name so affectionately.
"If you fancy her now, just wait until you see her with those specs on."
"Fuck."
Did he just say James fancied her?
Lily regretted pushing open the door as soon as Sirius had spoken. Sirius was sitting on the bed staring up at James, who wore thick black frames atop his long pink nose. Both boys turned their heads. Sirius waved.
James just stared.
Lily was very aware of the way James' eyes deliberately skimmed slowly as they traveled from the tips of her brown work shoes, all the way up to the auburn braid atop her head. He looked well put together and less of a mess than her, considering she felt feverish under his extraordinary stare. Finally, his eyes settled on her face and his face broke out into a smile.
"Got your last bit of skelegro." Her voice cracked.
Sirius launched up from the bed, "look at the bloody time I have to go uh, make sure Remus knows you're being released-later."
Lily winced when Sirius closed the door behind her so that James had her undivided attention. The only bandage left was on his forehead and cheek, where the toxins had set the most. He was handsome, in a dorky way that most men weren't. Lily hadn't even imagined glasses could've pulled off his look even more.
"Here." She thrust the skelegrow at him, "you've got to keep taking it twice a day or your skin will scar."
James chuckled in an amused way as he took the skelegrow from her, making their fingertips brush. He put the skelegrown on the bedside and took another step towards her, almost so that he was flush against her person. His hazel eyes were wicked when he smirked, twisting her stomach into knots.
"Mind helping me apply the last bit of healing lotion Emily dropped off?" He asked nonchalantly, nodding to the salve on his bedside table.
"Emily didn't want to help you?" Lily hoped James didn't notice the scathing way she spoke Emily's name.
"The only healer I trust in this building is you." James replied, ignoring the roll of her eyes as he sat down on the bed and slowly peeled the bandages off his face.
Lily took a deep breath, knowing she had to get closer, and stepped into James' space. He handed her the salve and she washed her hands before slowly rubbing the salve into the tender skin on James' face. Normally he kept his eyes closed during this part but now his eyes were wide and trapped on her face as she worked, deliberately.
"Green." He murmured as she filled the deep pocket on his forehead with the healing ointment.
"Hm?"
"Your eyes." James lifted a hand and caught her chin, causing her hand to stop cleaning his wound, "they're amazing."
"Thanks."
She blinked and then found herself leaning into his touch as his eyes skimmed over her face hungrily. Her fingers traced down his temple and rested on his cheek. His spare hand traced her cheek tenderly. James' lips parted into a toothy grin.
"You were pretty when I couldn't see a damn thing properly." He confessed, "But now you're the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen."
James leaned into her space and pressed his lips against hers without reserve. Her body was on fire from his touch and it was only a chaste kiss, testing the boarders of their relationship. He smelled like mint and honey from the healing ointment and she could feel the chapped side of his mouth from where he was still healing.
She pulled her mouth from his, "Your skin is still really raw-"
"You worry too much."
He surged his lips against hers and he wasn't letting her breathe now. His skimmed his teeth along her lower lip, smirking when she didn't even flinch and instead deepened the kiss greedily. She felt like she'd have to admit herself to the cardiac ward the minute his hands released her cheeks. Her heart was beating at a rate too fast to function.
She'd forgotten about the ointment on her hands, and now James' whole face was covered in it. She could taste the balm on thier lips when she licked them. He pulled away finally, pressing his nose against hers.
"Thank you." He whispered
"For what?" She asked breathlessly.
"Liking me for me." He replied back courteously, "rotting skin and all."
"The specs almost ruined it for me." She joked, always feeling giddy and lighthearted around him.
He wrinkled his nose at her, "You're such a liar."
"No really." She fought to keep a straight face, "That acid skin I can deal with no problem but bad vision? Almost a deal breaker."
His laughter fell onto her lips, lingering long after he'd been released from the Hospital.
Lily didn't know how her life could get any better when she had an Auror at her side whispering sweet nothings into her ear as they went downtown to meet his brother in celebration. James held onto her hand as they walked away from the hospital. His fingers played with the edges of her blouse and his lips kept finding her temple. A few strangers stared at his bandaged face as they crossed the street but James didn't notice because he only had eyes for Lily.
Thanks for reading and thanks to the anonymous prompt giver! I loved this one!
Let me know what you think here or on tumblr!
xxx
Petals