It started Sunday morning, with a coughing fit that Lily tried to hide behind her red and gold scarf, as she made her way out of the castle gates towards Hogsmeade. Next to her, Severus made a mildly disgusted face at the sound, but didn't say anything, simply wrapping his own scarf a little tighter around his neck. He hated all kind of sicknesses and all sick people equally, and his best friend knew it well.
A few hours later they were sitting in front of each other, drinking warm butterbeer to fight the cold weather outside. Lily was taking big gulps, trying to give some relief to her increasingly scratchy throat, but it wasn't helping as much as she'd hoped. She tried to hold it back, but in the end she couldn't help coughing again, covering her mouth with a napkin barely on time to avoid spreading her germs around.
"You should visit the Hospital Wing as soon as we're back at the castle," said Severus, visibly moving back from the table. He didn't want to deal with sick people, but above all he didn't want her condition to worsen.
Lily threw him a baleful look, but the effect was greatly ruined by yet another coughing fit. "It's just a cold!" she said, once she could speak properly. It was nearing Christmas time, and she had plenty of homework to do, visiting Madam Pomfrey seemed like a waste of time.
But during Monday's first class, Lily started to feel warm and a little dizzy, and she regretted not following Severus' advice. She swayed on he way out of the classroom, and only thanks to Remus helping her she didn't fall on the ground. After that, she decided to finally go to the Hospital Wing, and that was where Severus found her in the evening, after noticing she wasn't at dinner. He found her emptying her stomach in a bucket by the bed.
"Charming," was his greeting, but it sounded sarcastic rather than mean.
"Ugh, shut up–" tried Lily, but she couldn't say anything else, having to bow down to throw up again. She had waited too long, and instead of a simple potion against the cold, she now had to take some disgusting medicine against the flu and spend the whole night in the Hospital Wing.
Severus snorted, and felt tempted to leave and go back to his Common Room, where he could work on his homework instead of risking catching something himself. But he didn't want to leave Lily alone, so he sighed and approached the other side of the bed.
"I hope you realize I would never do this for anybody else," he said, sitting at the edge of the bed and handing Lily a tissue.
She wiped her mouth, then smiled at her friend and squeezed his hand, holding it. "I know. And you should know that I wouldn't let anybody but you see me like this," she replied, laughing a little and inevitably ending it with a cough.
Written for the HPFC challenge "OTP Scenario Challenge" (prompt: taking care of a sick person).
Written for the Hogwarts Houses Challenges' Quidditch Pitch (prompt: location – The Hospital Wing).