Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter copyrights, nor ever will.

"Arggg," moaned James as he slowly woke up to a throbbing pain in his head. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw his good friend Remus just folding up the latest issue of the Daily Prophet and putting it on the bedside table. "Where am I?"

"St. Mungo's of course," said Remus, trying to be cheerful.

Suddenly all of the events that had taken place New Year's Eve and Day came flooding back to James. He groaned again.

"Update?" asked James in typical Marauder fashion.

"Do you want me to be blunt or respect your feelings?" asked Remus tiredly.

"Might as well be blunt about it."

"Okay then, according to the Daily Prophet, only a handful of people died. According to Dumbledore and Moody, the exact number is thirty-two. Another forty-five were injured; thirty-six have already been released."

"And the other nine?" asked James fearfully.

"Well, most were in your position and in a curse-induced coma. You are among the last few to wake up."

"How many days has it been?"

"Four."

"How are the ones who haven't woken up yet? Anyone we know?"

Remus gulped and looked down at the floor.

"Remus," said James urgently as he sat up in bed, ignoring the pain that shot through his body at the sudden movement. "Who is it?"

"Well, Sirius just recently woke up- two days ago I believe. He's dying to see you, but they wouldn't let him in until you had woken up. I think he was due to be discharged an hour ago. Let me just go find him," said Remus hastily as he made his way to the door.

"Please, Moony. Just tell me who it is; it's better than not knowing. You know what an active imagination I have."

Remus sighed and reluctantly sank back into the chair that had been pulled up by James' bedside.

"Your mother."

"My mum?" asked James uncertainly. Then as a shock ran through his system, he asked, "Where's my dad?"

"I'm so sorry James, but… he… he…"

"He didn't make it, did he?"

Remus shook his head slowly, unable to say the words that would make the death of a man he admired official.

"You should be proud of him though; he was protecting your mum. She had fallen and he risked himself to defend her. He passed in the way he would have liked best; fighting for something he believed in, protecting someone he loved. He died as any man could only wish for."

By the time Remus had pored out his own take on the death of Michael Potter, both he and James had tears streaming down their faces.

"And how is my mum?"

"Things are actually looking up," said Remus as evenly as he could. "She should be waking any time now; the healers are very hopeful."

"Where is she?" asked James quietly.

"I'll take you to her," said Remus, completely ignoring the fact that he knew James was supposed to stay in bed and rest.

Remus led James down a few hallways and then to Sarah Potter's room. James smiled at his friend and then made his way into the room alone.

James went and sat by his mother's bedside, absently grabbing her hand and stroking it.

"Hi mum," he said quietly when he couldn't bear the silence that was so rare around his lively mom. "Things have gotten really messed up since school ended. I wish I was back at Hogwarts. It was so safe there; I had no idea what the real world was like. I want to go back to being seventeen- even if it means taking my N.E.W.T.s again. I would even do Binn's boring essays without complain.

"But, no, I know I'm stuck out here; out in the real world where there is pain, and death. It's not fair mom! Why do all the people who don't deserve it die! First there was Lily, who had so much to live for. I was going to marry her one day mom. What I wouldn't give just to see her again!

"And now dad's gone. Remus says that we should be proud of him. I am proud of him; I just wish he was still here. I can't imagine life without him. It hurts so much. It's not fair! He didn't deserve to die! He was supposed to be there when I got married and to hold his first grandchild! I hate this! Why is this happening?"

After his last outburst, James was spent. He slowly sank back in his chair, still holding his mom's cold hand. For hours, he sat there, just staring blankly at the wall in front of him. People came in out, visitors for the other occupants of the room, and healers to make routine check-ups and to try and goad him back to his own room. James ignored them all and refused to be taken anywhere.

Suddenly, James heard his name being called. He quickly woke up, though he had never realized that he had fallen asleep.

"James, honey, wake up," came the soft voice.

James was startled to see his mom's soft hazel eyes looking back at him with a smile on her face.

"Mum! You're awake!"

"Yes dear," said Sarah with a laugh. "You always were an observant lad."

Then suddenly, James' happiness deflated. He knew that he had to tell his mother about his dad; and he knew that he had to tell her now.

"Mom," he began uncertainly.

"Yes?" asked his mom, her brow furrowed. She could tell that there was something bothering her son.

"Dad… dad…," James gulped. The air became very heavy and hot and all of a sudden James found that he was having trouble breathing. So, he just hung his head and let the tears flow.

Even though James hadn't really told her anything, Sarah was able to glean his meaning. She held her arms out to James, just as she had when he was little. Together they cried for the man they had lost.

A while later a very forceful healer came by and booted James out of his mom's hospital room so that she could run some tests and give out some medication. So that's how Sirius Black found James wandering the halls of St. Mungo's, looking terribly lost and alone.

"Hey mate," said Sirius quietly. "I'm really sorry to hear about your dad; you know how much he meant to me."

"Yeah Sirius, I know," said James in return as Sirius gave him a comforting hug.

"Where are you off to now?"

"Dunno."

"Visiting?"

"Who's here to visit?"

"I don't know actually," said Sirius as he scratched his head. "People have been checked in and out of here so fast I have trouble keeping up with it all."

"Let's go find Moony; it seems like he is keeping up with the news."

"That's Moony for yah!"

Then the two men set off to find their friend. By the time they found Remus in the tea room, things had gotten much better between them; Sirius had cracked corny jokes until James finally smiled and began laughing again.

"So Moony, what are our afternoon visiting obligations?" said Sirius gallantly swung a chair around and sat on it backwards. "Old girlfriends perhaps? Importante people that we should impress? Old Defense Against the Dark Arts professors? Merlin knows we've had loads of those."

Remus put a napkin into his book to mark his page and snapped it shut.

"Hey, where's Wormtail?" asked James suddenly.

"He's fine," sniffed Sirius. "He got the cushy job of holding down the fort at your house. He's probably got the house elves serving him on silver platters."

Then suddenly a thought hit James right in his gut. "Moony, where's Meaghan?"

Sirius had also forgotten about the meek brunette and turned to Remus for the answer.

Remus sighed. Why was he always the bringer of bad news? "She's not doing too well."

"What do you mean?" asked James gruffly.

"What's 'not-too-well'?" asked Sirius at the same time.

"Let's put it this way, how well do you think someone can do after dueling you-know-who?"

"She did what?" bellowed James.

"What's up you guys?" asked Frank Longbottom, a friend of the three Marauders. "James, mate, you sound like someone stole your cat or something what's up?"

"Did you hear about that girl who took on you-know-who?" asked Remus calmly.

"Yeah, everyone has heard about her. Lately the reports say she's not all that well. But, seriously, what did she expect? Taking on you-know-who is stupid and foolhardy. No one in their right mind would do it! You'd have to be suicidal!"

"Frank!" yelled Sirius, finally getting the young auror, who was wired on several cups of coffee.

"What?"

"That suicidal foolhardy girl is our pal James' girlfriend."

"Oops," said Frank as his whole face reddened. "Sorry 'bout that James. Really, I didn't mean what I said- I've already had far too much coffee and no sleep, so I'm a little crazy right now!"

James just waved him off, caught up in his own little world.

Right next to him, the others talked about Lily's courageous stunt.

"So who is she?" asked Frank. "Mungo's wouldn't release a name and the press couldn't get a hold of anyone who knew her name. Lots of people saw her though, described her as medium height, skinny as a rail, with longish brown hair. I can't really think of anyone that fits that description. Though, maybe it was just because it was dark. Maybe she really has black hair. I know lots of skinny girls with black hair. Well really only one… maybe two…"

"Frank!" yelled Sirius again as he rubbed his temples. "Give it a rest man!"

"Sorry Sirius," said Frank sheepishly. "It's just that…"

"Yes we know that you have had a lot of caffeine and no sleep!" said Sirius.

Changing the subject, Remus said, "Well, she's James' girlfriend…"

"Not my girlfriend," mumbled James.

"What was that?"

"She's not my girlfriend; we're just friends."

"That's not what Witch Weekly says," teased Frank.

"What is Witch Weekly saying? Please, Frank, enlighten us!" said James in a sarcastic tone that caffeine-high Frank failed to notice.

"Alice showed me the article. It goes on for two whole pages. Got a bunch of pictures in there as well… one of the two of you kissing at midnight… a lot of it was just talking about how glad everyone was that you had finally given up your Lily chase.

"They were a bunch of quotations taken from people. It's funny though… people don't know who she is at all. The reporters went around asking questions all night and no one knew who she was or where she came from. People were a bit confused because she seemed to know who they were. One lady even said that the mysterious brunette asked about her cat's health. What was surprising was that the woman did have a cat that had been sick something like six or seven months ago."

"How very odd," said Remus with an strange tone in his voice.

Then all of a sudden, James sprang up from his seat, knocking his chair over and bumping the table so that Remus' tea sloshed all over the place. Then he just left the room without a word.

"He's going to try and find her," stated Sirius.

"He's not going to get in," said Remus blandly.

"How do you know?"

"I already tried."

"Why?"

"Can you guys keep a secret?"

Frank nodded energetically and Sirius appeared to be in thought for a moment, but then he leaned forward to hear what Remus was about to say.

"Meaghan is not quite who you think she is…"