"Air, I need air," James gasped, breathing in raspy breaths. He coughed; if this lasted much longer he would die. He could hardly breathe, though there was air all around him. It was ironic, really, he was sitting straight up, opening his mouth as widely as he could in order to get as much air into his lungs as possible, yet every time he did so he erupted into a coughing fit, phlegm coating the insides of his mouth.
He tried to breathe again, but again started coughing. Madam Pomfrey hurried to his side and handed him a potion, but he was coughing to hard to take it. Finally, the coughing fit stopped and he could breathe. He took in a great breath which only made him cough, though less harshly, again.
Almost beyond the range of his ears whose hearing was now almost as bad as his ability to breathe he heard his girlfriend ask if she could see him. He shivered in horror; he couldn't let Lily see him like this, hardly able to breathe, not at all able to speak. He was glad when he heard Madam Pomfrey forbidding her visit, but Lily argued and she appeared at the edge of James' bed.
Her cute freckled face and her beautiful red obscured his vision for a moment and then she sat. "How are you, James?" she asked. Her voice was worried; did she know how sick he was in reality? He made an effort to turn his head and look at her and immediately burst into another coughing fit.
Madam Pomfrey came back to his bed to try to give him the potion again but all his attention was on Lily; was this the last time he would see her?
"Lily," he managed to croak, "Lily, I need air."
Lily looked at him and started laughing.
"Lily, I'm serious, I need air; I can't live much longer like this."
She handed him a handkerchief. "So blow your nose, silly."
He blew it.
Challenge: Alchemy Classroom
Prompts: 300-2000 words (335), write a story in which the character realizes how important air is