AN: This is the result of me listening to my Queen CD all day :P. A one shot for now, but I do take requests. Oh, and Harry Potter does not belong to me. I wish.
That morning in September, the Gryffindor table was silent. Even the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were subdued, as students kept darting glances at four conspicuously empty chairs at the center of the Gryffindor table. The Slytherins, on the other hand, were in high spirits chattering and flashing a smug smile or two at towards the opposite end of the hall. Even Professor Mcgonagall looked up from her plate to glare at several Slytherin students, who were on the quidditch team and had… featured in the previous day's match.
"They're acting like they're the ones who won the match yesterday" Frank Longbottom's tone was uncharacteristically bitter as he griped to his girlfriend, who shot him a wide eyed look of fear in response. Alice Prewett did not want ANYTHING to remind her red headed best friend of the previous night. It had taken the combined efforts of Alice, Dorcas AND Emmeline to hold her back as Lucius Malfoy had landed his broom right in front of the Gryffindor stands, smiling mockingly despite his team's losing the first game of the season.
Lily Evans was still shooting death glares at the entire Slytherin table. Her house had won, but no one had really felt like celebrating when their captain and star seeker had been carried off the pitch unconscious. Picking at her food half heartedly, Lily could still remember the icy fear gripping her as James Potter plunged to the ground, moments after catching the snitch. Not that it mattered to her or anything… it was just… unfair. From the first whistle right to the end of the game, the Slytherin beaters had been hurling bludgers his way, and he had taken several hits to the head before he swooped down on the snitch. His bleeding nose and bruised forehead hadn't been enough for Lucius Malfoy, though. In a big show of pretending to go after the snitch, Malfoy had flown right into James, knocking him off his broom in midair. Poppy Pomfrey from Ravenclaw had been going on all night about how he had been barely alive when he had been taken to her aunt.
Lily had had an unsettling feeling at the thought of Poppy helping her aunt take care of James the previous night. She had barred all the other girls from seeing him, saying that the fangirls wouldn't let him rest. Fangirls! Since when was Lily Evans a fangirl?
Ok, so maybe he had grown up since fifth year. At least he'd stopped hexing the Slytherins for fun. Not that some of them didn't deserve it. Lily cast another furious look at Lucius Malfoy as she stabbed her bacon viciously with her fork.
Dorcas Meadows and Emmeline Vance were eyeing Lily with alarm. After the game, she had wanted to march over to the other end of the pitch where Lucius Malfoy had been exchanging high fives with Evan Rosier and Crabbe as if they had won the match! Which they hadn't. James had won it for Gryffindor!
Yes, he was now James. Lily's heart sank as she thought of the charming head boy lying motionless in the hospital wing. It was ironic that Lily had started to fancy him AFTER he stopped asking her out. She had always admired (grudgingly) how his lessons seemed to come naturally to him, and he definitely was handsome; hazel eyes, quidditch toned body, quirky grin. Spending time with him first over a potions project last year and as heads this year, however, had allowed her to get to know him as a person. He could be prattish, but he was also funny, clever, brave and loyal. And she had been starting to laugh at his pranks. The time Sirius, Remus, Peter and he had charmed the Slytherin's quills to follow Professor McGonagall and Madam Pince around the Great Hall, singing "Fat Bottomed Girls you make the rocking world go round" Lily had practically wet herself laughing. She'd given up pretending she didn't fancy him.
The absence of all four Marauders, was, however, what was causing most of Gryffindor house to worry about their captain. Never, in the past six years had Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew missed a meal. Even when Remus was sick, which seemed to be quite often, the Marauders would go and visit him after breakfast. Especially when Professor Slughorn had, in a rare moment of insight, read the murderous looks in Sirius and even Remus' eyes and had confiscated their wands immediately after the game, to be returned only after they had calmed down. The fact that they weren't there, hexing the life out of Lucius Malfoy was causing Lily to panic. For the Marauders to skip out on the chance for revenge, James Potter had to be at his deathbed, at least.
"We're not quite sure if he's out of danger yet. We couldn't stop the boys from coming in to see him, but we're not letting him have any visitors. He probably won't wake up until tomorrow at least" Poppy Pomfrey's smug (to Lily's ears) voice carried over from the Ravenclaw table. Why did SHE get to have the inside scoop on James bloody Potter? It wasn't Lily's fault all her aunts were muggles, and couldn't be the school healer.
Poppy, on the other hand, had become very popular with some of the Ravenclaw girls, who, of course, had to know more about his condition. Ordinarily, Lily would have rolled her eyes at them and made some snide remark to Dorcas, Emmeline and Alice about how desperate some girls were. Of course, she would have gotten teased mercilessly later, but she would have done it anyway. Something about James Potter brought out her possessive side. Not that he knew it. Not that he was ever going to know it. That morning, Lily was just staring at the door to the Great Hall, willing it to open and reveal ALL FOUR Marauders. Or at least Remus, who could assure her that James was ok.
Much to Lily's surprise, the door DID swing open with a loud thunderclap, causing the Slytherins to pause in mid conversation. Poppy Pomfrey's eyes bugged out of her head as she saw, at the doorway, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and James Potter. Malfoy and some of the members of the Slytherin quidditch team paled as they looked at the four boys, while the rest of the hall began to buzz with whispered conversation.
Lily's eyes zeroed in on James as he stood at the entrance to the hall with his friends. Something was definitely up, the students could sense it. There had to be a reason why the four boys couldn't come in. Lily stared as James stood with his wand in his good hand; he had a bandage on his forehead and his left arm was in a sling. He also had a bandage on his chest, and several nasty looking bruises. Even the Slytherin girls were starting to swoon as they realized he was wearing his school pants and robe, but no shirt.
No shirt. Lily didn't know whether it was the bandages that was forcing him to parade around half naked, or if he was on one of his Potter ego-tripping moments, but she couldn't help but notice he had a very nice chest, bandages notwithstanding. Merlin, she was ogling an injured man! What was wrong with her?
And what was wrong with everyone else? Lily tried to glare at every girl who stared, but there were just too many of them. Plus, she didn't really have a claim on him. He was probably going to move on to Poppy Pomfrey, who had played Florence bleeding Nightingale last night, anyway. Lily was distracted from her dark thoughts about the Ravenclaw when the sound of loud clapping and stamping broke out from the entrance of the hall.
The boys at the door had started stamping their feet and clapping their hands, and had charmed almost every inanimate object in the room to echo them. Lily started to smile as the Slytherin's plates, cups and forks started to emit red and gold sparks. Her smile, along with those of her housemates, turned into roaring laughter when three wand flicks by James, Remus and Sirius had the Slytherins and the teachers stamping their feet and clapping their hands rhythmically as the Marauders began to march up the great hall, their cloaks flying, stamping and clapping as they marched.
Buddy you're a boy make a noise
Playin in the street gonna be a man someday
You got mud on yo face
You big disgrace
Kicking your can all over the place
Singing We will, we will rock you
We will we will rock you
The boys sang in unison as they marched, faces determined. Lily found herself smiling as she remembered James' fascination that year with muggle music, and how he had been playing that Queen record in the head's dorm for a whole week before the quidditch match. Virtually every student from the remaining houses, led of course by the Gryffindors, had gotten to their feet, stamping and clapping in support of the boys.
Buddy you're a young man hard man
Shoutin in the street gonna take on the world someday
You got blood on yo face
You big disgrace
Waving your banner all over the place
Singing We will, we will rock you
We will we will rock you
By this time, the marauders had reached their intended destination; the four empty seats next to Lily and her friends. Even Professor Mcgonagall seemed to be trying to control her twitching lip as she looked at the boys, and Lily could have sworn she saw Professor Dumbledore wink at them. She blushed slightly as James took the seat next to her and turned with a lazy grin.
"All right, Evans?"
Hmph… he was James to her now, and she was still Evans. She was just about to snap at him when Poppy Pomfrey came up to the boys, huffing. "You were supposed to be on bed rest, James, I didn't even know you woke up."
"About that… I woke up in the middle of the night, to find these three cuddled up by my bedside"
'We were not cuddled, we were worried' Remus looked reproachful as Peter squirmed and Sirius unthinkingly whacked James' sling.
"Oh Prongsie my dear, you KNOW we can't survive without you! A minute's separation feels like an hour!"
"Yes, Pads, when I woke up and saw your faces all was right with the world" James matched Sirius' dramatic tone as he turned to wink at Lily.
'So what are you doing out of bed J-P-James?' Lily blushed furiously. She'd started calling him James in her head, and the way he quirked his eyebrow at her made her uncomfortable. Merlin, she may as well walk around with a neon sign flashing over her head saying "I FANCY JAMES POTTER"
'Aren't you supposed to be resting?' Lily figured if she pretended she hadn't just called him James, he would forget.
"Well, LILY" James smiled at her before continuing, "We'd planned to do this the morning after we beat Slytherin anyway. Moony was all for shelving the plan until the next match, but I insisted."
"But- my aunt and the house elves had such a close watch on you. How did you even get out?" Poppy looked affronted, as Sirius and James just grinned.
"Poppy, poppy, poppy" Sirius shook his head, "I reckon if it came down to it, James and I could escape from Azkaban."
'They probably could, too' Remus smiled slightly at Dorcas, sitting next to him, before the Marauders began to tuck into their morning meal. No one except James noticed that Lily was cutting his food into little bite sized portions on his plate.