James woke up in the middle of the night to see his two best friends sleeping around him. He had woken up for a reason-Lily was in pain, and he knew it. He walked over to his bedroom door and silently, so as not to wake the others, pulled it open. In the drawer by his bed was a piece of parchment and a quill. He wrote:
Padfoot, Moony-
I have gone to St Mungo's. I think Lily is getting worse. I can't describe how I know. But I awoke in the early hours of the morning with an odd feeling, and I know it had something to do with Lily. Please let Dumbledore know of my departure. I'll be back later today, not sure what time.
Prongs
He placed the parchment on top of the mantle and left.
When he arrived at St Mungo's, he went straight to Lily's ward. Luckily for him, no Healers were around just then. He sat by Lily's side and read the notes attached to the chart that hung at the foot of her bed. Words like "Drink poisoned", "Time of poisoning-unknown!" and "Came in with boy 'claiming' to know nothing about the poison" were scribbled on the parchment. The last comment made James so angry he actually considered leaving the ward to find the Matron and demand what she meant by it.
He was startled out of his rather violent thoughts along this line when he heard Lily moan. Instantly he took her hand and whispered, "It's okay. Shhh! I'm here now. Don't worry." Lily seemed to relax when she heard his voice.
James was about to leave the ward in search of the loo when he heard a scream from the Matron's office. He ran to the door and knocked, but no one answered. James stood there a moment, puzzled, and then the door opened and Sirius and Remus emerged from the office, covered in soot. James smiled at his friends in delight, then looked into the Matron's office and saw her lying on the floor, apparently Stunned. When he looked back at his friends, he saw that Remus had his wand out.
"Did you Stun Healer Davis?" James asked in astonishment.
"Well, Remus Petrified her. She wouldn't have let us in here otherwise," Sirius told him. He looked round. "Well-how is Lily? Where is she?"
"Oh, she's over here," James said, and led the way to Lily's room.
Sirius and Remus stared down at Lily, and James went back to pacing the ward. When he finally returned to Lily's side, he stared at her limp form bleakly, tears beginning to form in his eyes. Remus spotted this and hinted broadly that he and Sirius should go and get a drink. When Sirius finally caught on, he stood up and patted James' back awkwardly. Remus tried not to laugh at the surprised look on James' face.
Once his two best friends had gone, James sat down on the foot of Lily's bed and sighed, hoping she would be better soon. He hunkered down and laid his head on the metal footboard, letting his weary mind succumb to the temptation of a nap. Just a short one, he thought...
James awoke to the sound of his friends' worried voices. He kept his eyes shut in order to listen to what they were saying about him or Lily.
"I hope Lily gets better soon; it's painful watching James like this. He acts like it isn't bothering him, when people can see it clearly is," James heard one of them say-he wasn't sure which.
"I agree with you, but he does have a right to be upset. Lily is the love of his life," the other voice said.
James sat up and cleared his throat, startling Remus and Sirius.
"It's all right, carry on talking about me," James laughed.
"I-I-we weren't, mate," Sirius stammered.
James laughed and looked over at Lily. "I think I'll go find the tea room, shall I?" he said, with a pointed look at Remus' and Sirius' decidedly empty hands. With a grin, he took himself off out the door, and Remus and Sirius took over the visitors' chairs to keep watch.
Some time later, Remus burst into the tea room to find James snoring loudly on one of the plastic seats. Remus shook him awake quickly.
"James, Lily is awake! Come on," Remus shouted into James' ear. This had the desired result. James sprang up out of his chair, looked at Remus in disbelief, then ran. Remus followed, panting.
When James reached Lily's bed he saw that she was indeed awake. Lily looked up at him and smiled weakly. James beamed back at her.
The three boys stayed with Lily until the sun shone through the window. By that time the Petrifying spell on the Matron had worn off and they were all promptly kicked out of the ward, as it wasn't visiting hours and Lily needed her rest.
Since they couldn't stay with Lily just then in any case, they decided to return to Hogwarts for a few hours to update the other girls on Lily's condition and to get some breakfast.
The boys waited until the Matron was out on the ward dispensing medication. Then they slipped into her office and climbed into the fireplace.
"Gryffindor common room!" James shouted. The emerald flames engulfed them, and died away to reveal the worried expressions of Coral and Lacey, who sat by the common room fire anxiously awaiting their return.
"How is Lily? Is she getting better? Tell us everything right now!" Lacey demanded.
"Lily's fine. She woke up for a little while, but then we got kicked out. Oh, and Sirius and Remus here Flooed in and Petrified Healer Davis," James summarised quickly.
"She woke up? That's great! Why on earth did you Petrify a Healer?" Lacey asked, her mood lightening now she knew her friend was on the road to recovery.
The five friends joined the few others who were up this early and walked down for breakfast, planning the next day's journey to St Mungo's-the difference being that next time, Lacey and Coral would be going, too.