James Potter's eyes split open. He screamed hoarsely. The sandy-haired seventh year girl who had been stroking his hair also began to scream.
"Mr. Potter!" shrieked Madam Pomfrey, sprinting over to his bed. "Why are you awake?!"
James eyes popped, veins pulsing. He was groaning now, his face frozen into a silent scream of pain.
"Miss May!" shouted Madam Pomfrey, readying the pain-killer potion on James's bedside table. "What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing in here? Waking up Mr. Potter and sneaking into the hospital wing at –," she glanced at her gold watch "– six thirty in the morning!"
"I'm so sorry Madam Pomfrey!" Ursula May apologized profusely; still staring worriedly at James's pained expression. "James begged me to visit! He was lonely…"
James couldn't get out a protest. His disagreement was cut off by Madam Pomfrey who shoved a mug of cool, slippery potion down his throat. He struggled to swallow it all in one gulp, coughing and choking. Ursula patted his back daintily. James growled in irritation and shoved her hands off when Madam Pomfrey wasn't watching.
"Mr. Potter that should do the trick."
James nodded gratefully, relaxing back onto the pillow. He welcomed the numbness; it muted the aches, stabs and throbs of pain attacking him from every inch of his body.
"Miss May, I expect you gone in ten minutes, I will be back to check!" Madam Pomfrey snatched the mug off the bedside table and strut crossly into her office, slamming the door behind her.
James wasn't listening; he was staring down at himself, one eye-brow raised. It wasn't quite as bad as he had expected. His chest was strapped to the point of discomfort, so tight that his breaths were forced to be shallow and short. The tape wound around it supported his ribs. He could feel they were no longer broken; Madam Pomfrey would have fixed that in a minute. The area was still, however, fragile and very tender.
His fingers came up from beneath the thin hospital sheets to stroke his torn lips. His mouth tasted salty and dry. He ran his tongue along his front teeth to find flaps of his gums, tattered and hanging as a result of Julian's punch. Apart from the bruises and slashes healing rapidly across his stomach and arms, he couldn't find anything else wrong with him.
"James?" whined Ursula. He'd forgotten she was here. He looked at her impatiently, feeling slightly guilty when he saw the wounded look in her big blue eyes. Bloody ex won't leave me alone. I won't let myself feel guilty, James promised himself. In the past, he'd been down the same road with the deviously innocent looking girl too many times.
"What?" snapped James, dodging her hand when it came up to stroke his hair like a puppy dog. They had dated in fifth year…or…was it sixth…? James's past relationships tended to blur together and over-lap in his mind. They had all being pleasurable distractions from the feisty little red-head who'd glower at his smirk in the corridor's and avoid his raucous group in the common-room.
Ursula only took care of people when she needed something from them.
"Do you feel okay?" asked Ursula.
Okay. Such a broad term. Was it an emotion? Or a condition? Either way, James missed feeling okay.
"No…" James heard himself mumbling. To whom he was speaking to, he wasn't sure. "I don't – I'm not –,"
Another silence. He didn't even look at her. This wasn't the girl whose company he so desperately craved.
"What do you want?" James finally said, cutting right to the point. His eyes lifted to look at her, feeling slightly ashamed at his moment of discomposure. He smelt hot pumpkin juice wafting from Madam Pomfrey's office.
She looked at him, one eye-brow raised for few moments.
"The day's Sirius is free," she finally admitted. "Or where he is these days anyway."
Her hand flopped down onto the sheets, her concerned little façade falling off her like a mask. Her face was business-like now, the baby blue eyes freezing ice cold. "You see James, I'm bored. You, obviously, won't play with me – not while you continue your infatuation for a sixth year. And so…Sirius is just as favorable. When Black and I are both bored we always find something to do…usually each other…."
"Stop," begged James, putting a hand out and turning his face away in revulsion. "Merlin, what are you Ursula, a lap dog?"
He straightened his sheets, wincing as a stab of pain shot through his ribcage. He was trying to distract himself from Lily now that Ursula had mentioned her. How long would he have to wait to see her? Would she visit? Or was she so angry that everything they felt for each-other didn't matter anymore? I deserve it, thought James desolately. That's twice she's been hurt because of me. What next? Ambushed between classes? What if next time no-one hears her screams…She's got her mum's death to worry about, she shouldn't be involved in my wars…
"It's weird that you and Remus were somehow injured at the same time," mused Ursula, looking across the room suspiciously. "It's all one big mystery…"
James's eyes followed hers, dread building up within his throat. Across from James, asleep on a bed lined up against the opposite wall, was Remus. His sandy crop of hair was just visible above the sheets.
"When did he come in?"
"Rumor has it Sirius dragged him in at the crack of dawn...the baffling attack on the Marauder's has been the talk of the whole school…"
"Great," said James tonelessly. He ran a hand absentmindedly through his dark brown hair, ruffling it up. The last thing he needed was the entire school asking questions for the next month. Ursula watched random gold strands of James's hair glint in the rising sun.
"Alright!" snapped Madam Pomfrey, bustling from her office and towards them. "That was your ten minutes now shoo!"
James sighed in quiet relief when Ursula left his bedside. She turned back to wink at him seductively before exiting through the hospital doors. She was blocked from walking out by a small crowd.
"Oh," James heard her surprised tone. "Morning Professor Dumbledore Sir."
Dumbledore? thought James. He didn't know whether or not he was glad to see the man who knew about Remus's little problem. It would be like a betrayal to admit to him that after he was so accepting of Remus's predicament, they had taken advantage of it and ran around the grounds every month with a werewolf. As unregistered animagus'.
Ursula held the door open for the tall, thin wizard. He glided through, nodding and smiling down at her. Trailing behind Dumbledore in single file was Marv Colette and the black-haired twins; Damon and Julian.
---
The sound of her alarm clock going off had never been more welcome. Her eyelids snapped open, jade eyes instantly alert. The Marauders.
Her legs shuffled across the bed until they hung right over it, she rose into a sitting position and blanched. She felt as if she'd run a marathon. Cautiously, she lifted her bright yellow night shirt off her stomach and turned towards the weak morning to inspect herself. Lily had no reaction to seeing the dark purple tinge covering her upper stomach and lower arms. I'll heal, she thought casually, wincing at the soreness of her bruised skin when her fingertips brushed lightly across it.
She travelled quietly past her still drowsy and sleeping friends to the bathroom mirror. Luckily, her face had been left out of this attack. Her pale, rosy cheeks were now as bright as ever. Lily was taken aback by the forcefulness of the revenge she so badly wanted on those pathetic Slytherins. Never in her life would she have thought that one day she'd want to plot an assault against Hogwarts student's with the Marauder's by her side.
Lily felt her life resembled a bleak, rapid tide. She only hoped she'd always be able to swim fast enough to keep up with it. Never before had she lived more in the now.
After a few more minutes of quiet observation before the mirror, her thoughts snapped back to James and her last bloody images of him. She dressed and got ready like a machine, keeping the chatter with friends to a minimum.
She was grateful for the cold weather, giving her an excuse to wear her long-sleeved coat over her school blouse, covering the fading marks on her arms. Curious stares and casual questions were shot her way, her unnatural, agitated behavior not going un-noticed.
"I'm not coming to class this morning," admitted Lily, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Visiting James I suppose?" asked Chelsea resignedly. Lily wondered if Chelsea had been jealous up until now. She put down her un-finished piece of toast.
"Yeah," acknowledged Lily, swallowing. She didn't want to ask how her best friends knew about the incidents of last night. Excluding the werewolf bit of course. The knowledge of the school was limited to the Slytherins attack on Gryffindor Quidditch captain and prefect James Potter and his sixth year lass. She was so relieved Chelsea and Jacinta realized she wanted to be left alone for a while. Their usual instinct was to badger and interrogate.
Lily swung her schoolbag over her shoulder and hopped off the bench. Her friends smiled at her supportively before turning back to the long Gryffindor table laden with eggs, toast, cereal, bacon, butter and jam.
Her stride to the hospital wing was jerky and stiff. She still felt the same as the moment she'd stepped out of bed. As if she'd been trampled by a Hippogriff. She couldn't believe that after all this time she still felt nervous as she walked along the last corridor to the hospital wing. Nervous knowing that James Potter was waiting for her on the other side of that big, oak door.
Waiting before the said door, Lily paused to take a breath and organize her thoughts. Thoughts that included what to yell at James. That egotistical idiot who almost got us killed.
She didn't get the chance to open the door herself. It swung forward from the other side, revealing a calm Dumbledore trailed by the furious-looking Marv Colette and the tall, black-haired twins.
---
The hospital wing was just as she'd remembered. The white, sterile beds with thin, stretcher-like mattresses were doused in strong morning sunshine, streaming in through the tall clear window panes. Portraits of famous healers framed the closed door to Madam Pomfrey's office. Her green eyes scanned the hall-sized room cautiously. She couldn't spot James. Instead, her eyes focused on a sandy-crop of hair, poking out from behind the thin hospital sheets.
She shuffled over to his bedside. When sleeping, Remus looked as if it would take a bludger to wake him up. His breaths were slow but rhythmic. The dark circles which had hung from his eyes for the past week were slowly fading. Full moon's over...
The whole situation was tragic. Lily had always, despite not being close to, been fond of Remus. He was the most sensible of the group (or so she'd thought) and he was going to spend the rest of his life as an outcast. An outcast for something he had no choice over. An outcast who would forever be looking for work and friends, shunned by the Ministry of Magic and considered untrustworthy by the rest of the magical community. And Lily didn't even want to think about his physical pain…
"Lily?"
Lily's eyes snapped away from Remus's peaceful face in search of the familiar voice. Two bed's down lay Jeremy Stevenson. A sixth grader like Lily, he was universally known to be extremely self-centered and mildly popular with the witches.
"Come to visit me have you Lily?" asked Jeremy. His blue eyes were completely serious.
Lily chose to ignore that question. "What's happened to you?" said Lily, her voice a monotone, eyes running over his arm in a sling.
"Nothing I can't get over," replied Jeremy, winking. Lily asked again. He explained he'd been 'viciously attacked' by a centaur herd near the forbidden forest.
"Really. Are you sure you didn't go looking for a bit of amusement with your dimwitted friends and decided to piss off the herd?"
Jeremy ignored her last comment, going on to explain in great detail the battle he fought against hundreds of the violent monsters, his friends cowering behind him. But Lily wasn't listening anymore; she was remembering the day Jeremy asked her out the previous year.
Lily left the library after a hard session of O.W.L's studying. The castle glowed in the evening.
"Jeremy?" asked Lily, noticing him waiting outside the portrait hole.
"Oh Lily, there you are. I've been meaning to ask if you'd want to go out this Christmas? I know you live only a few suburbs away -,"
"No," came Lily's quick, automatic reply. He looked startled. "I mean I'd love to," she amended quickly, lying through her teeth. "But I'm just too busy at the moment with O.W.L.s and everything, you know?"
"Are you a lesbian?" enquired Jeremy. Lily glared at him. His question wasn't due to her lack of boyfriends despite her beauty. He had simply never been denied before.
"Yes," replied Lily, her voice dripping in sarcasm. "Because there is no other possible reason I could possibly say no to you is there?"
She pushed past him and climbed through the portrait hole.
"…and the half-breed leader, he said to his friends, 'should we spare this ignorant child?' but I wasn't going to take that. What do they think they are, calling me a child? I ran up -,"
"Miss Evans?" asked Madam Pomfrey in surprise, bustling down the room towards her.
"Hi Madam Pomfrey."
"Here to visit Remus are we?"
"Yeah…"
"That's all well and good dear, however I cannot allow you more than half an hour – I know you have class after all!"
"Thanks Madam Pomfrey."
"Do you have any idea what happened to these prefects?" asked Madam Pomfrey in a more hushed tone when she was standing right next to Lily.
"No, not really, apart from the Slytherin attack," lied Lily.
"Oh yes," nodded Pomfrey gravely, looking her up and down. "So sorry to hear about that my dear. But with Remus, it's very strange. Almost as if he's been repeatedly stabbed in the torso."
"Oh –,"
"Dumbledore visited Mr. Potter just a moment ago, informed me Remus had strayed too close to the Womping Willow on ground's duty…but I, for one, know that is impossible…are you sure you don't know anything? You and James were both attacked on the same night as Remus's accident after all -,"
"She's sure Poppy."
Lily's head whipped around to see James, limping towards them. She looked back to the door he'd just emerged from; it was the bathroom.
"That's Madam Pomfrey to you Potter," snapped Pomfrey. "Merely because you're in here every fortnight due to Quidditch does not make that appropriate. And get back into bed."
Madam Pomfrey bustled off towards her office, slamming the door behind her.
She heard James laugh briefly – it was cut off by a wheeze of pain. He clutched his ribs.
"Duly noted. Can't laugh."
Lily approached him and scanned him, noticing the places he was taped up. He smelt of healing potion and clean hospital sheets.
"Are you okay?" asked Lily. It was such a pointless question yet she still had to ask.
"Of course."
"Good."
Lily slapped him across the face, hard enough for his face to turn. She could feel Jeremy watching them from his bed but she didn't care. James's face turned slowly back to face hers. He was smiling sheepishly.
"Alright I deserved that."
"Damn right you did Potter. What you did that night was either the bravest or the stupidest thing I've ever seen."
"I'm leaning towards bravest," grinned James.
"I'm leaning towards stupidest!"
"But everything's okay now, I'll explain, Dumbledore came in this morning with Marv and the twins –,"
"I know," interrupted Lily. "I saw them leaving."
"Oh. What did they say to you?"
"Nothing much. Dumbledore made them apologize."
James's eyes lit up. "Wish I was there to see that."
"Potter! Get into bed!" shouted Madam Pomfrey from behind her office door. James rolled his eyes and flicked his hair, ruffling it as he strolled over to his bed across from Remus. He sat on it, patting the spot next to him.
Lily ignored his gesture and stood across from him, arms crossed. She was starting to feel like her life had completely lost reason. All she did nowadays was try to keep everybody, including herself in one piece.
"So what did Dumbledore say?"
James told her everything. Explained how Dumbledore had sat before his bed, Marv and the twins standing awkwardly around it. Made James tell the full story. James told the truth, Marv and the twin's didn't disagree with any of it. A hundred points was taken off Slytherin for each of them, three hundred points in total. It completely wrecked their chances of the house cup and every student in Slytherin knew who was to blame.
Each of the Slytherins was given a month's detention and letters were sent home to their parents. James's was given one detention for not respecting his duties as a prefect and telling a teacher sooner.
"Well…that sounds about…perfect." Lily couldn't help but grin at how everything had panned out. "Even your detention."
James pushed himself off the bed and pulled her towards him. It was invigorating, hugging James Potter. His hands slid up and down her back, massaging it pleasantly. His breath was a fusion of scents, mint and blood being the main two. They both pulled back after several moments.
"What do you say to a real date this weekend, at Hogsmeade?" asked James, cupping her cheeks. "We can just talk until the sun set's at The Three Broomsticks." The pad of his thumb traced the dark circles under her eyes.
"That's kind of what I needed to tell you," admitted Lily. Her mother's funeral was a tidal wave, devastating her idyllic beach of a life. "I'm leaving tomorrow."
