"She still hasn't woken up yet," A male voice said, obviously worried.

"Prongs, I know that you hope-" Another male voice said.

"Don't tell me what the chances are again, Moony."

"Prongs, chill, man, you need rest."

"Padfoot, shut up."

"Seriously, Prongs, you're not going to ever wake up if you don't get some rest soon."

"Moony, if you don't shut up, I will-"

"Now, now, Prongsies, there's no need for-"

"Does anyone have any food?"

"Wormy, we just had lunch."

"I know, but I'm hungry again."

"Shut up, Wormy, she can probably hear us."

"Are you insane, Prongs?"

"No-"

"Yes, Prongs is officially crazy."

"Shut up, Padfoot."

"Prongs, the healers are going to give it another day before they-"

"They can't give up on her, it's only been a week!"

"They've run all the tests they need."

"She won't die. She can't."

"Lily, please wake up." The same male voice said. I felt a pressure on my hand.

"Just squeeze my hand if you can hear me." It pleaded. No matter how hard I wanted to squeeze my hand, it just wouldn't work.

"Please, Lily, you have to wake up." The voice said desperately.

I forced my eyes to open. They felt like they were glued shut. I wished Petunia were here. I remembered my mum and dad's voices, Marlene and Alice, and the elusive male voice, but Petunia's voice was never there. My whole head ached, and my brain seemed to run as slow as molasses in January. I wondered how long I had been asleep. It seemed like a long, long time. I knew I needed to wake up, but I couldn't. These thoughts were too much for my weak brain, and once again, everything faded to black.

I felt sunlight on my face. Blearily, I opened my eyes, raising a hand to block the bright light. I froze when I realized that there was an IV attached to my arm.

"Lily, you're awake!" My dad said, standing up from the chair he had been dozing in.

"I'll go get your mother!" He said, leaving the room.

I must be in St. Mungos, because this was certainly not the Hogwarts hospital wing. The walls were plastered with get well soon posters, and several tables were piled with Bertie Bott's every flavor beans, strawberry sugar quills, chocolate frogs, and a vase of flowers sat on my bedside table.

My mum came back in the room.

"Lily, honey, we were so afraid you weren't going to wake up," She said, gently giving me a hug, as if afraid she would break me.

My dad stood with his hand on her shoulder, wiping his eyes.

"How long have I been asleep?" I croaked, my voice hoarse with disuse.

"About a week and a half." Mum said, pulling a chair up next to my hospital bed.

"You've had a lot of visitors," my dad said, as I looked at the assortment of get well soon cards amongst the candy.

"They were afraid you weren't going to wake up." My mom said, looking down at the sheets and trying to conceal the tears dripping down her cheeks.

"Has Petunia visited?" I asked.

My mom and my dad exchanged a look.

"No, I'm afraid your sister hasn't visited yet." Dad said, saying the last "Yet" like he was still hoping the visit was sure to happen soon.

"Good morning, Miss. Evans," A healer in bright green robes said, coming into the room.

My mum and dad watched in amazement as he performed several spells to check my condition.

"You're in spectacular form, Miss. Evans," She said. "You should be ready to leave by the end of this week, if nothing changes."

"What happened to me?" I asked, only remembering the duel with Malfoy before I blacked out.

"You were hit with large amounts of dark magic, which several skilled wizards cured you of, and then I placed you in a medically induced coma to help your body recover from the curse. Your condition took quite the turnaround yesterday." She said. My mom squeezed my hand.

"I know you've just woken up, Miss. Evans, but you need your rest." The healer said, taking a purple potion from a cart and pouring it into a goblet.

"I understand," My mother said, holding onto my arm as I downed the potion and fell asleep.

"Lily!" Marlene said excitedly when she saw that I was awake. I had been up for a few hours, catching up on studies.

"Mar!" I said, setting my books aside. "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Merlin, Lily, we were all so afraid that you weren't going to wake up." Marlene said, sitting down.

"How is Mary? Is she okay?" I asked.

"Well, her mental state is a little…unstable, but she'll probably be fine." Marlene said. "That was so brave, going to fight Malfoy to save her."

"Yeah and look where bravery got me," I said dryly.

"You saved her life, Lils. Anyways, James has been bringing you all of your homework assignments and taking care of Head Duties."

"I almost forgot about Head duties," I said, getting by how much I had missed.

"You gave everybody quite a scare, that's for sure. McGonagall gave us no homework last week because she was so worried about you." Marlene laughed.

"The healer says I can go back to school tomorrow." I said, getting slightly worried at the amount of homework I had to make up.

"That's great news!" Marlene said. "Alice was here earlier, but Frank got caught up in an accident at training, and he's down the hall, being treated, so she went to see him."

"I guess my lovely sister hasn't come to visit yet, then," I said. Marlene gave me a sympathetic look. My parents had gone home yesterday, after seeing that I was doing better.

"No, but James has." She said, smirking. "He would sit in here for hours, doing homework or planning pranks."

"Wow, I wish I had been awake for the planning pranks part." I joked. Marlene laughed and looked at her watch.

"Sorry, Lils, but I have to go back to Hogwarts for Quidditch practice this afternoon." She said. I felt a surge of jealousy that she could go back to Hogwarts. As weird as it sounded, I missed school.

I brushed soot and ashes off myself as I stepped out of the fireplace in McGonagall's office.

"Miss. Evans, so glad to see you back," She said, giving me a smile she reserved for only the rarest moments.

"It's good to be back," I said, carrying all my books out of her office.

I passed various people in the hallway, all greeting me and asking me how I was doing. Finally, I reached the Head dorms, exhausted from carrying my books up all of those flights of stairs.

The portrait stared at me expectantly as I tried several passwords that didn't work.

"Cockroach clusters." Someone said, behind me. The portrait swung open.

"James!" I said, hefting my books into one hand to give him a one-armed hug.

"Lily," He said, taking my books from me. His muscles didn't even strain from the weight, probably because he had so many.

"I didn't know when you were going to get back," James said, as we stepped into the common room.

"Well if I stayed away any longer I was going to fail my NEWTs." I said.

"Like you could fail an exam," James joked.

"Is Mary back at school?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Well, at first she was at St. Mungo's, but the Healers thought it would be better if they transferred her to the hospital wing so she would be in a more stable environment." He said.

"Why would someone put an Imperious curse on her?" I asked, remembering the way Malfoy had laughed at Mary's pain.

"I don't know." James answered honestly. There was a moment of silence.

"So, I looked over the patrol schedules for next month and the only thing I would change is to flip Higgins with Seyfield because Hufflepuffs usually have practice on Mondays." I suggested.

"Smart." He commented, crossing out some names on the sheet. I started to go up to my dorm.

"Hey, Lily, I meant to ask you if you needed any help with assignments that you missed." James said, running his hand through his hair. I was tempted to throw all of my books at him and ask him why he would think that I ever need help on schoolwork, but I resisted.

"Sure, James. Thanks for offering." I said, as he ran through his hair again. He caught my lingering glance.

"Sorry, I know you hate when I do that," He said, referring to the way he would run his hands through his hair. I had actually been a bit distracted by the way his shirt rode up a few inches whenever he raised his arm.

"No, it's fine," I said, resisting a quite different urge to go over and flatten his hair down for him.

But I resisted it, walking up to my dorm without another backwards glance.

A/N: Sorry, this chapter is a bit late. Hope you enjoyed! Tell me what you would like to see in the coming chapters and I'll do my best to write it in.

Don't forget to review

-PAR