'You sure you don't want to at least try the chicken broth?'

'Mum, I've already had three different kinds of soup today. Honestly, I'm fine,'

Mrs Evans had perched herself on the arm of the sofa her daughter was curled up on. Her hand stroked Lily's hair gently, and she looked at her with a mixture of sympathy and defeat. Lily really could be quite stubborn.

'I think I'll leave it out,'

'Mum –'

'Just in case!'

'That's it,' Lily said, too loudly, it seemed, as her throat boiled up and was wheezing out coughs for the next twenty seconds. Once recovered, her mother looking wholly worried, she continued. 'If you do not go right now, I'm wiping this tissue on you.'

At this, Lily brandished the very object she'd threatened her mother with. A Kleenex, perhaps once white, that seemed to have suffered every sneeze and cough she'd had in the last few days was dangling dangerously close to Mrs Evans.

'Get that infected thing away from me,' she said. Lily's eyebrows rose and, though she'd buried herself deep in blankets and cushions, the arm holding the tissue stretched further.

'Alright, alright!'

Lily, half laughing – half coughing, brought it back and added it to the ever growing pile of tissues beside her. From beneath her cavern of blankets, she peeked out at her mother who, Lily noticed, was looking quite radiant. She was wearing her best dress, the deep shade of blue that matched her eyes, and had wrapped her hair up in a sleek bun, rather different to the knot she'd scrape back when working in the garage. It was different.

'You look lovely, Mum.' Lily smiled. Because she did, she really did and, more than anyone, Lily's mother deserved to feel beautiful.

'Thank you, darling,' she said, and bent down to leave a kiss on her head. 'I hope to say the same about you soon. Feel better.'

'I'm trying.' Lily gave a little sneeze and chuckled. 'I'm just going to have a nap, I think. Have fun tonight.'

Her mother smiled once more, and the last thing Lily heard before drifting off was the sound of the door shutting softly.

All-in-all, it had been quite a good nap, Lily supposed. Other than the one or two coughing fits that had woken her, dreaming of flying a dragon through Gringotts had made her sleep rather pleasant. That is until her thoughts were rather rudely interrupted by a loud clang.

She groaned at the sound, eyes opening to look around the blurry living room to find the source of the noise. Stretching her back, the blankets falling away as she did so, Lily reached to grab another tissue to blow her nose loudly.

She shivered and spluttered, grabbing the duvet and wrapping it back round her shoulders, trying to clear her mind of the echoing jangle.

Her useless attempt to rid her headache was made no better when, irritatingly, the clang rang again. It was the doorbell.

'Bloody hell.' She grunted, stuffing a tissue down her sleeve and rubbing a fist in one obnoxiously itchy eye. Heaving herself off of the sofa, blankets trailing behind, Lily walked grouchily across the room and into the hall. She wasn't quite awake enough to care that she most likely looked dead.

'Peter?'

Lily had managed to open the door, only to find herself looking across at the very round, very familiar face of Peter Pettigrew.

'Hey,' he smiled kindly. 'I just came to check up on you, Mary told me you were a bit under the weather.'

Lily sniffled, trying to return the smile. 'That's really sweet, thank you.' She hugged the blanket closer round her body as the evening air swept in.

'Right, so, no offense or anything Lil, but you look bloody awful,'

'Thanks, Pete,' she scrunched her face. 'Really appreciate that one.'

'Which is why,' Peter chuckled, reaching into the satchel slung on one shoulder, and pulling out a little bottle. 'I have brought this.' He held it out to Lily and, as she took it in her hands to read the label, her groggy expression split.

'Oh my god, you're a life saver.' Lily beamed at the words written across the bottle: Pepperup Potion. 'I'd hug you but, you know, I don't want to kill you.'

He laughed at that. 'Honestly, I don't know why you don't have your own supply,'

Lily then registered the fact that they were both standing in the cool air outside, when they could be sat under a million blankets on a very comfortable sofa. 'Come in, come in. It's freezing out here,' she said. 'And we don't keep any because this is a muggle household, Pete.'

Following behind Lily's cape of blankets, Peter closed the door behind. 'So you're just supposed to sit it out until it just goes?'

Lily shook her head slightly, feeling the pound of her headache as she made her way into the living room. 'We have paracetamol, but sometimes you've just got to bear it.' It was then that her words caught in her throat and she began coughing, her chest burning up as each splutter scratched inside. Bent over, feeling like she was going to throw up with each cough, Lily felt a Peter place his hand on her back.

'I think maybe bearing it is a little out of the question. Go and have the potion before you die, mate.'

'Right, right.' She wheezed, hands gripping the tiny bottle. 'I'll, uh, be right back.'

Walking away, Lily heard Peter mutter, 'Survived a battle with death eaters, defeated by a cold. Honestly.'

'Oh Merlin, I feel so much better,' Lily grinned, ditching the blankets she'd been parading around the house, and stretching her arms above her. As soon as Peter turned to see her, he burst out in a fit of laughter.

'Oh, shut up,' she said, swatting him and taking a seat on the sofa opposite. 'It's better than coughing up my insides for days.'

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' Peter chuckled, trying to calm himself. But Lily knew he wouldn't be quiet when there was literal steam bursting out of her ears. Consciously, she pulled her hair forwards, though this only caused her friend to collapse into another fit of giggles. She could only assume, by the tingling and sweep of air that brushed at her skin, that the steam was blowing her curls above her head.

'Damn it, Peter, I can't help the side effects of the potion!' Lily said, a little irritated but, at the same time, his giggle was infectious and she hadn't laughed properly in a good few days.

'I'm going to get earmuffs,' she decided, chuckling.

'Have you got anything to eat?' Peter called as she left the room.

'Just grab anything from the kitchen!' Lily yelled back, searching the bundle of coats hung in the porch. She soon discovered a pair of furry earmuffs tucked behind a scarf and walked lightly back to the living room, finding Peter cross legged on the ground. He was taking a bite out of a chocolate bar.

Going over to face him, Lily kneeled down and noticed the rather large box lying between them. It was a deep blue, a very familiar deep blue, really, and the cardboard was decorated in little stars. Across the top, Lily read the block letters and her eyes widened in excitement.

'Is this –' her face broke into a grin. 'Is this the first edition Doctor Who board game?'

'Yup,' Peter munched happily, watching Lily open the box and unfold the board onto the carpet. Little figures and cards spilled out, dice and leaflets, Lily positively squealing in glee.

'This is amazing, where did you get it?' Her eyes were bright, smile unrelenting as she looked to him.

'James gave it to me,' he said. 'He said it was for you. Merlin knows where he found it, I mean, I didn't even think he knew what Doctor Who was,'

Lily felt her chest swell, and not in a way that made her want to throw up. She didn't recall mentioning her love for the show to James in the past few months of their friendship and was certainly not expecting a gift of any sort.

'It's for me?'

'He said he would have come to cheer you up if he could,'

Lily's smile, if possible, grew wider. 'This is so sweet of you both, honestly I was just planning to hibernate until that cold was over.' She said, clutching the little Doctor figurine. 'Seriously you lot are the best mates ever.'

'We know you'd do the same.' Peter's face softened, a gentle beam lighting his face. 'That's what friends are for, isn't it?'

'I suppose it is,' Lily grinned. 'So,' she gathered the cards from the board. 'What do you say to an evening of time travelling?'

'Sounds bloody fantastic.'