Olly didn't wake up. Not that day or the next day or even the day after that. Madam Pomfrey, the ageing healer, kept saying that her body just needed time to recover from the head injury but that she would wake up when she was ready. Smith had been put in detention for the rest of the year by Professor Longbottom who was nothing short of completely furious. An owl had been sent to Olly's mother straightaway but Kerr had yet to reply or arrive at the castle making the Professors suspected that she was abroad again. Sage, Fred and James were all very worried although in James' case distraught might have been a better word. Fred and Sage were actually beginning to worry more about James than about Olly. He wasn't eating, he wasn't sleeping, he wasn't even talking except in one syllable words. He spent all his spare time, and even a lot of his class time, by Olly's bed. Mostly he was silent but occasionally he could be heard asking Olly to wake up. Now Fred and Sage weren't the only ones worrying about James. All of his cousins were starting to become worried about him. Lily kept saying that every time she saw him that his face looked even more heartbroken. Harry had been up to the school with Ginny to see Olly briefly one evening and they had been shocked by just how badly their son was taking Olly's coma. Harry confirmed that Kerr was indeed abroad with work but that he would make sure that she came home as soon as possible. He had also told James that he needed to stop worrying.

James himself just liked the moments he could just sit with Olly and hold her hand, just the two of them and no one else. He didn't suppose he minded all that much when Sage and Fred were there just that they spent a lot of time looking at him cautiously like he was about to do something drastic. He knew that his reaction to Olly's injury was confirming Sage and Fred's suspicions that he was in love with her but he didn't care. He'd admit to being in love with her a million times if she would just wake up. He hated leaving her at the end of the day afraid that she would wake up alone in the darkness although sometimes, in his dark moments, he was afraid of something else. He felt sick constantly and he kept thinking to himself that if she would just wake up everything would be a lot better. Madam Pomfrey said that the wounds had healed fine and there was no damage to anything internally, just that her body was getting over the shock. James supposed that if he'd had a cracked skull, a broken femur, a shattered humorous and four broken ribs his body might need time to recover as well. He also was well aware that if Olly had been awake she wouldn't have liked sitting still at all. She was always on the go and hated being the hospital wing. Maybe the coma would give her body the rest it needed.

On the fourth day Olly was still in her coma and predictably James had skipped class to sit by her bedside. He had been given several detentions already but Professor McGonagall had insisted that the detentions be wiped. He couldn't concentrate anyway. He sat there watching Olly's very pale face. Of course Olly was usually pale but every bit of colour had drained from her face. Her black hair was spilling out across the white pillowcase like a silk curtain and her lips were slightly parted. Her breathing was so quiet that sometimes James thought she had stopped breathing. It worried him a lot. He would never leave if he had the choice. Fred and Sage had to literally hover him out of the room on the first night, practically kicking and screaming.

James glanced up at the clock on the wall. Classes were nearly over for the day and James hadn't even noticed the time passing. He hadn't left since he had arrived at around 6 am that morning. He wasn't hungry even. He knew that Fred and Sage would be there soon bringing food with them. He glanced at Olly's bedside table. It was covered in sweets, flowers and cards from her friends. Alex Flint and Eric Nott had been up to visit her. James hadn't left her bedside though and instead just sat there like some unmoving statue. He could tell from Flint and Nott's hesitant speech when they were talking to Olly that they felt uncomfortable around him. He was pretty sure that it was due to the way he looked. He knew if he looked anything close to how he felt it had to be pretty scary.

'Have you eaten anything today?' said Fred's voice suddenly which normally would have made James jump but in his current state didn't bother him at all. He turned his head slightly to see Fred and Sage standing behind him with worried expressions on their faces. In their arms James could see food that they had obviously nicked from the kitchen before heading up. He shook his head ever so slightly and then looked back at Olly. He couldn't bear to take his eyes off her even for just a few seconds.

'You need to eat something, mate,' said Sage softly as he and Fred slipped into two chairs that were already positioned around Olly's bed for them. 'You'll be no good to the Quidditch team if you let yourself waste away.'

James didn't answer. Fred and Sage had been trying to coax him out of his trance-like state for the last four days. He knew he was worrying them and not just them but his siblings, his cousins, his parents and all the Professors. He knew he should pull himself together but he just couldn't. He was plagued by fear of what might happen. What if Olly never woke up? He didn't know if he would be able to handle that. She had been there his whole life.

'You know I hope you'd take it this hard if it were one of us?' said Fred as he took a bite out of a pumpkin pasty.

Again James didn't answer but continued to stare at Olly. In his peripheral vision he could see Fred and Sage exchanging a significant look. James wasn't bothered about what it meant. He couldn't even be bothered to stop them when they suggested that he admit that he was in love with Olly. So what if he was? He still wasn't sure himself but something inside of him felt like it was breaking a little more every day that Olly didn't wake up. He felt a little like he was losing his mind. Every minute he pleaded in his head that Olly would open her eyes. She never did though. He blamed himself. He should have protected her better. Fred and Sage told him that these thoughts were ridiculous and that it was Smith's fault. After all he was the one that deliberately hit Olly over the head with a beater's bat. There was no way he could have done it by accident since Smith was a chaser.

'You know Olly's going to kill you when she wakes up,' said Sage after a moment of silence.

James looked up in confusion.

'All this moping about by her bedside instead of being in class will send her right through the roof. She'll be worried that you'll fail your N.E..'

James looked back at Olly again raising one shoulder in shrug to indicate that he didn't care. Olly could be as angry as she wanted with him as long as she just woke up. He really didn't think he could stand it for much longer, just sitting there watching her, begging her to wake up but she didn't. This was what it would be like if she became an Auror. James' whole being recoiled at the thought of it. He had seen his Aunt Kerr lying in St. Mungo's bloodied and bruised and he did not want to imagine Olly in the same way. He would somehow have to persuade her not to be an Auror. That was if she ever woke up.

'James, mate,' said Fred in a slightly more cautious voice than he had been using, 'why don't you eat something? You really can't starve yourself on Olly's behalf. She'll be more than pissed if she realises that you haven't eaten for days?'

James looked up at them and they could immediately see the weariness in his eyes telling them that he just couldn't take it anymore. He looked exhausted and they could read on his face that he just wanted them to stop fussing over him. Please just stop, is everything that they could see in his eyes.

'We need to go and get some homework done,' said Sage abruptly standing up and yanking Fred to his feet. 'We'll come back down in a couple of hours.'

As they walked away through the hospital wing James could feel their eyes on his back and heard the whispers of, 'I wish Olly would wake up.' He knew that they were worried about Olly and that they were worried about him. He really didn't want them to have to worry about him but he just couldn't seem to pull himself together. Once Olly woke up it would be all right. He could deal with anything else if she would just wake up.

He sat there unmoving staring at her almost trying to will her into opening her eyes. It didn't work. He knew that of course it wouldn't. He had been trying to days. He leaned forward clasping her hand tighter in his until his chin was almost resting on the pillow beside her head. He could see the slight rise and fall of her chest as she continued to breath. He constantly monitored it because her breathing was so light.

'Hey Olly,' he said in a low voice, 'it's James although you've probably already guessed that. I would say I'm back but to be honest I haven't left all day. Sage and Fred were here a couple of minutes ago but they said they had some homework to finish. You're going to have so much to catch up with but at least I'll be doing it with you.'

James felt like an idiot. Although Professor McGonagall said that muggles have done some research into comas and have concluded that some people can actually hear people talking whilst in a coma, it didn't make him feel any less like an idiot. He just wanted to be able to talk to Olly, to actually hold a conversation with her. He hated talking to her when she couldn't respond especially since all he wanted was a response from her. What was he supposed to tell her? It wasn't like he could say much about his day. Hey Olly, I've sat by your bedside and stared at you all day. Olly would probably wake up then and kill him. James kind of wished that she would but if she could hear him then she definitely knew that he had been there all day. He had been holding her hand since he'd first arrived.

'Wake up, Olly,' he whispered to her for what seemed like the millionth time. 'Please.'

He looked at her but there wasn't so much as even a fluttering of her eyelashes. He sat back feeling the dark cloud of despair settle around him again. Absently he thumb stroked the back of her hand like he had done for the last four days as James struggled to think of something to say to her. He wanted her to wake up and look at him and smile. It had been so difficult to sit there day after day and not to reach over and try to shake her awake. That was what he had wanted to do from the beginning. He glanced down the length of her body looking for any sign of her stirring. She was still dressed in her Quidditch robes under the white sheets but she seemed to be lying comfortably. There was no hint of movement. He didn't know what to say to get her to wake up. It happened to those muggle films all the time. Characters in a coma would often wake up to the sound of the best friend's or husband's or boyfriend's voice. They always said the same thing though. It wouldn't work, James thought, but he might as well try it.

'Olly,' he whispered again leaning forward once more. 'Olly, please wake up. I – I love you.'

He swallowed slightly feeling very strange for having told Olly that he loved her even if she couldn't hear him. Even though he had told himself it wouldn't work the disappointment was crushing. Olly didn't stir in any way and James felt a little betrayed by those muggle films that his Aunt Hermione was so keen on. What was the point in teaching people to believe a lie? He sighed a little and then sat back again squeezing Olly's hand a little.

Just then there was a screech as Olly's owl Artemuis soared in through the open window of the hospital wing with a letter in his beak. James barely spared the owl a glance as he soared overhead and dropped the letter on Olly's bed before soaring out of the window again. James glanced at the letter and recognised his Aunt Kerr's handwriting immediately. He picked the letter up and set it on the side. He wasn't sure what it could be. It could be from his Aunt about Olly's father but then again it could be a Get Well letter. Not that James thought Olly's mum would send a letter. She was far more likely to turn up in person. He therefore concluded that the owl was mostly likely to contain information pertaining to Olly's father.

He put the letter up on the bedside cabinet and looked back at Olly. She looked as though she were sleeping. She looked comfortable in the bed laying on her back her eyelashes dark circles on her pale cheeks. James knew different though. Olly never slept on her back, she always slept on her front with on hand by her hip and the other curled tight to her chest. She hated sleeping on her back. She found it uncomfortable and was never able to get to sleep whilst in that position.

The doors of the hospital wing opened just then and Professor McGonagall swept in with Olly's mother, Kerr hurrying behind her. James turned to look at his Aunt Kerr. She too looked paler than usual almost the same shade as the silvery scar that ran down the right hand side of her face. She was dressed in black robes which billowed out behind her when she walked. James had always thought Olly's mum was an impressive woman but right now the thought seemed to overwhelm him. Surely if Kerr was here Olly would wake up.

'Olly,' Kerr whispered softly as she darted towards the bed where Olly lay and smoothed a hand over her daughter's hair. She stared at her for a long minute as James stared at Kerr his eyes flickering occasionally to Olly to see if she was responding to her mother's voice. There was no change so far and James felt like time had stop for a moment as he watched his Aunt Kerr stare down on Olly's peaceful face. Doubts were creeping into his mind again. What if Olly had simply been holding out for her mother to turn up? What if now she felt ready to slip away?

'James.'

James tore his eyes away from Olly to look at his Aunt Kerr who was standing beside him. She swooped down and gathered him in a rather fierce cuddle. James felt a little awkward. He was the best person for comforting people. Sure he could hold his own with Olly but she was his best friend. It was different with his Aunt Kerr especially since she never seemed to need any comfort from anyone. He gingerly patted her back and felt her give him a last squeeze before she pulled back from him.

'How has she been?' Kerr asked him her sharp eyes taking in James' drawn features and the way he was clutching onto Olly's hand.

James didn't know quite what to say and he wasn't quite sure what Kerr was asking him. Was she referring to the coma or was she referring to the revelations about her father and her brother? He didn't quite know what to say. He hadn't really used the volume in his voice for a while now and he wasn't quite sure if it was working. He had only whispered to Olly since the Quidditch match. He just couldn't find any words to say to anyone.

Kerr seemed to realise his difficulty because she smiled a little at him and then put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye James could see Professor McGonagall leaving again and in the distance he heard the quiet bang of the hospital wing doors shutting. Madam Pomfrey had yet to come and greet Kerr but he suspected that she wanted to give Kerr some time with Olly. He looked up at Kerr who was staring down at her daughter again.

'I should have known,' she said in a low voice, 'that she would inherit the ability to attract trouble from me.'

James didn't answer but instead looked back at Olly. He knew Kerr was right. Olly did seem to have the habit of attracting trouble but he supposed no more so than him or Fred. He wondered whether his Uncle Fred had got together in the afterlife with his granddad and Olly's granddad to plot the biggest prank of them all and make sure that his mother, his Aunt Angelina and his Aunt Kerr all had children that were the same age, who would be best friends. The trouble makers. It wasn't like they just made trouble though, James thought, all three of them attracted trouble as well. If something was going to happen, it was bound to happen to one of them. At least the hand one member of the group who didn't attract trouble and who had his head screwed firmly on.

'I suppose it was a little too much to hope that she had inherited her father's ability to be almost invisible,' Kerr continued. James held his breath almost without realising. He had never in his entire life heard Kerr mention Olly's father.

'Oh Olly,' she said then her voice even lower as she bent towards her daughter, 'I am so sorry for all of this.'

James had felt uncomfortable plenty times before in his life but never more so than at that moment. He didn't want to be there to see how Kerr's face broke when she looked down at her daughter. He didn't want to see the twitch in her left hand which meant she was upset and nervous. As much as he didn't want leave Olly's side he knew that she wouldn't be alone. He looked at Olly and squeezed her hand not wanting to voice his goodbye. If she could hear him in her coma, she knew he would be back. Then looked at his Aunt Kerr and she looked back at him. He didn't have to say anything to know that she understood because she inclined her head towards him.

He let Olly's hand slip out of his and it felt so wrong as he turned his back and headed towards the hospital wing doors. He clenched his hands into fists violently feeling his nails digging into the palm of his hands. The pain made him feel a little better. He didn't really have any doubt anymore which felt a little strange to him because surely at some point it was going to be awkward. Yet the doubt was gone replaced by a fire of knowledge.

'I love you, Olly,' he whispered as he headed for the door not looking back round because he knew that it would break his resolve to leave her with her mother for a time. His words seemed so right to him. He did love her and not just as his best friend. It scared him a little but the words, unlike when he had said them earlier, seemed so right in his mouth. Everything seemed to slot into place right then.

He reached the door of the hospital wing and pulled open the door slightly. He hesitated on the threshold. Every fibre of his being was screaming at him to turn around and go back to Olly. His doubts for her life were there in full and he could admit, if only to himself, that he was terrified to leave her. Then, as he was about to walk out of the door, something stopped him. A voice, faint and wavering.

'James.'

Okay well that was short.
I so know that this has not been as exciting as the other chapters.
I just wanted to have a bit of James/Olly.
Something sweet.
Anyway did you love it? Did you hate it?
Let me know.

Kerr X.