Disclaimer: I'm not J.K. Rowling... Sadly :P. I only own the plot.

Chapter 2

"James!" I squealed with laughter. "Leave me alone! Stop it!" James just laughed as he continued to splash me with water. Suddenly I heard Mary shout, "Get him!" And James cried out in indignation at being attacked. Sirius, Remus and Peter swam up to him to help while I ducked under the water, casting a bubble-head charm in the process so that I could still breathe.

Swimming up to him, (literally) I could see his legs thrashing about in protest, and I couldn't help but grin; he could be so childish. I waited for the best moment before I grabbed one of his legs and yanked him under the water with me, pointing my wand at him too and casting the bubble head charm for the second time.

He grinned when he saw what I was doing and decided at that moment to swim towards me. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he only grinned, making me turn tail (no pun intended) and try to swim away from him. I was a pretty fast swimmer, but nowhere near as fast as James. It must be from playing so much Quidditch.

I gasped slightly as he grabbed hold of my ankle and pulled me backwards. I turned around to face him and he just grinned at me childishly before winking, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the edge of the lake. I smiled at him as we swam side by side towards the bank; before an unexpected and sharp tug, (yet again on my ankle) separated me from him and I sank lower and lower and faster and faster into the depths of the lake, the unknown weight still firmly attached to my ankle.

The bubble head charm began to wear off as my wand fell from my hand and began to float away from me. I couldn't keep the charm working and I started to gasp for air, furiously kicking at the water and trying to propel myself upwards. My vision started to blur at the edges, before everything blacked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~LJ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LJ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LJ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Lily!' he thought. 'Oh shit no!' James swam for the sinking girl as fast as he could, cursing the Grindylow with a wave of his wand and summoning Lily's into his hand a split second later. James had always prided himself on being able to cast a non-verbal spell, and now he was especially grateful.

He swam closer and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into the safety of his arms before pointing his wand skyward and thinking 'Ascendio.' He shot to the surface with Lily held tightly in his arms and positioned himself so that he hit the ground instead of her.

Gasping slightly he tried to get his bearings right but a sudden rush of people trying to reach him and Lily made that impossible. Obviously the others were already out of the water.

"Prongs! Prongs mate! What happened?" Sirius's voice sounded louder than normal. Looking up into the blurry faces of his friends he couldn't help but grimace. "Here mate," Remus's calm voice broke the agitated silence as he put James's glasses on his friend's face. Righting them, James looked up again and everyone shifted back into focus.

"Grindylow," he croaked. "Grindylow." He looked down at Lily resting in his arms. If he didn't know any better he'd say she was sleeping, but he of course knew that wasn't true. Looking at her closely he could see that her face was ashen and just glancing at her ankle told him all he needed to know. That it was broken, and swollen with cuts and bruises covering every inch of it and her foot and further up her leg. He grimaced.

Scooping Lily into his arms properly he stood up and started walking towards the castle. He was vaguely aware of Sirius and Remus each picking up a fallen wand and following him, along with Peter, Alice, Marlene and Mary up towards the hospital wing, all with drawn and anxious faces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~LJ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LJ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LJ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Madame Pomfrey?" James called out clearly as his fellow Marauders pushed open the hospital wing doors for him. "Madame Pomfrey? Help, please?" he heard someone call from behind him, probably Alice.

The medi-witch bustled out of her office calling, "Alright boys, who is it now?" Sirius gave a disgruntled snort behind James and muttered, "Why does she always think it's us?"

"Probably because it is," Remus whispered back just as Madame Pomfrey caught sight of Lily in James's arms. "Oh my!" she gasped. "Here, put her down here." She pointed towards a vacant bed and James gently deposited her onto it before backing away slightly and allowing Madame Pomfrey to examine her.

"Will she be alright?" Mary asked timidly. That question was all it took to re-alert Madame Pomfrey of their presence and she immediately shooed them out. "Go on now. Don't you worry. She'll be right as rain in no time." She turned to James just before closing the hospital doors behind them.

"Mr. Potter. What exactly happened?" she asked sharply. He met her stern gaze a little sheepishly before mumbling something about swimming. The confused witch looked to Remus for a translation and he quickly told her what had happened as fast as he possibly could.

"She got attacked by a Grindylow while we were swimming in the Black Lake," he said as Madame Pomfrey looked at them all sternly, narrowing her eyes.

Tutting under her breath she returned to her patient's bedside, waving her wand at the doors and causing them to close with a soft thud.

James sighed in defeated as he sat down in one of the few wooden chairs next to the huge oak doors and placed his head in his hands. Sirius and Remus sat down either side of him and awkwardly patted his back. The three shocked girls glanced at their friends before joining them and sitting on the floor at their feet.

"She'll be alright James," a soft voice consoled him. He looked up into the pale brown eyes of Lily's best friend, Alice Prewett. "She'll be absolutely fine. Lily won't let a few cuts and bruises and broken ankle get the better of her. She's tougher than that, you know that don't you?" he smiled slightly. Of course he knew Lily would be fine, but he couldn't help but worry about her anyway. After all, she was the love of his life; the girl he was madly in love with and Alice could see it in his eyes. Heck, all the girls could and he knew it.

"James?" Mary's timid voice broke the silence and he looked up again, a sense of desperation written across his face. "You really do love her don't you? It's not just a crush, right?" He smiled sheepishly again as a faint pink tinged his skin and he nodded ever so slightly.

"Well you should tell her then!" Marlene stated brashly. James could swear she was the female version of Sirius. Speaking of which, shouldn't he say something right about now James thought tiredly. "Hell no!" Ah there it was. "James has told Lily so many times that he loves her and she's rejected him each and every time. Why now?" Sirius stated with Peter nodding vigorously at his side.

Alice sighed in exasperation. "Because you knucklehead. This time we know Lily would probably say she loves him too!" James looked around suddenly alert, but Sirius got there first. "Oh yeah Prewett?" he asked suddenly angry. "And why do you think that is?"

Alice was getting angry too. "Look Black," she spat. "We're her best friends and if anyone knows Lily it's us. We've seen the way she looks at James. How she blushes when he compliments her and how she always looks for him whenever we enter a room. Alright?" Sirius stuttered suddenly out of things to say, so Marlene jumped in too.

"James has also stopped asking her out constantly, he's matured and deflated his head a bit and their friends now too," she stated with James nodding at her every word.

"Careful there James," Remus chuckled. "Nod any faster and your head will fall off." Everyone laughed and James smiled. "Do you think so?" he asked looking around. He looked like a lost puppy to the girls, scared and unsure. "Yes," Alice and Marlene stated together firmly.

"Just be sure to do it at the right time," Mary said. "And no showing off like before," she added with a quiet giggle and everyone laughed again. "Be the compassionate and mature bloke that's in there somewhere mate," Remus added, joining the conversation. His fellow Marauders looked at him in shock and he shrugged. "Hey, we can't all be blithering idiots when it comes to girls; like Sirius is," he said with a chuckle and everyone laughed again as Sirius let out an indignant "Hey!" before they all lapsed back into silence and James?

Well for the first time in a very long time James began to believe in something that he had once lost faith in... Hope. Now all that was left was for Lily to alright. 'Oh please Lily, please be okay,' he thought as the great oak doors that held the hospital wing began to open up again and everyone stood up with baited breathe waiting to go in.

A/N. Hey all,

Sorry this chapter took forever... Life's just been hectic at the moment. However, I can guarantee that you'll be hearing a bit from me over the next few weeks. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter... Lemme know what you think? Much appreciated .

Cya soon :D

R&R Please?

Love

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