When James first gained consciousness, the first thing he was aware of through the haze was the pressure on his hand. There were muffled shuffling and he could pick up on some muted voices. Slowly, extremely slowly, the tingling in his leg grew more and more intense. It wasn't painful per say; it was more like his leg was waking up after falling asleep.

"James?" The voice clearly asked.

Instantly he identified the voice. His heart involuntarily skipped a beat. He would know that voice anywhere. Realizing that he actually was hearing her voice, he mentally smirked to himself; she was willingly sitting with him.

"James, if you can hear me squeeze my hand," Lily pleaded.

He willed his arm to move and was disenchanted when he barely felt his pinky move a little. Putting more strength and concentration into it, he finally succeeded in tightening his hand around her slender fingers.

There was brief laugh of sheer elation, the sort one laughs when a heavy burden has been miraculously lifted. "Mr. Potter! He's awake!" Lily said happily.

The left corner of his mouth quirked up for a millisecond as a comical thought entered his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut and almost inaudibly groaned. The hand tightened around his own and he slowly opened his eyes.

"Oo?" He croaked out.

Lily's beautiful face scrunched up together as she tried to decipher what he muttered. He cleared his throat and asked in a clearer voice, "Who?"

"Who? Who what, James?"

"Who are you? Who's James?" He asked, his voice as soft and confused as he could possibly make it.

Lily's face paled, making her already milky white skin look almost translucent. "You don't remember?" She asked in a horrified whisper. James could have sworn her heard her mutter "too" at the end of the sentence but he wasn't sure.

A full blown smirk stretched across his face, "I remember I'm a sexy beast, Lily-Love."

In an instant, her expression changed from heartbreaking melancholy to raging fury in an instant. She ripped her hand out of his and glared at him with an intensity that would have sent a weaker man to his grave, "You arse! I can't believe—I was worried—you are—ugh!" Lily wasn't even able to finish her sentence she was so infuriated with him before she spun on her heels and stormed out of the Hospital Wing without a second glance.

James turned to look at his silently laughing father.

"Was it something I said?"

His father's only response was to snort loudly before bursting out laughing.

When Madame Pomfrey finally decided that he was well enough to leave the hospital wing (and personally feed up with his antics) she officially released him under one stipulation.

"No chance in hell." James said vehemently. He glared at the offending crutches.

Madame Pomfrey gave him a look and thrust the crutches towards him again, "I will not repeat myself again. You have to use these to walk."

"I can walk just fine, Poppy."

James swung his legs to the side of the bed and tried to stand up. He smirked confidently when he was able to stand straight up. "See? Perfectly fine."

"Take a step," Pomfrey ordered.

He barely lifted his leg before suddenly the floor tried to greet his face. Madame Pomfrey caught his shoulder and pushed him back to sit on the bed.

"It's either the crutches or a wheelchair."

"Crutches are good."

He begrudgingly grabbed the offending objects and shoved them under his arm. He stood up and took a few jerky steps. He stopped and readjusted himself before nodding his head in Pomfrey's direction. "See ya Poppy!"

"James Potter! Get back here!" She shouted at his retreating figure.

He was fully intent on continuing his escape when he was suddenly stopped right in his tracks. McGonagall and Dumbledore were standing there, one with a stern face and the other with an amicable and calm face.

"Going somewhere, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked genially.

James nodded once, "Just back to the common room so I can get started on all the homework I missed for Transfiguration. I wouldn't want my professor cross at me." He winked at McGonagall whose expression never changed.

"Get back into the hospital wing, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said sternly. "I highly doubt Madame Pomfrey has released you."

"She didn't." Pomfrey said crossly from behind.

Realizing that he had been boxed in between the three teachers, James sighed and held his hands up in surrender, resting his armpits against the crutches to keep his balance, "You've caught me. Take me in coppers," he said in a mock Western American accent.

Once he was situated back in bed, he looked up at the three adults, "Why're you here?"

"We would like to know what happened the night of your injuries." Dumbledore said.

James raised an eyebrow, "Don't you know what happened by now? The rest of them have probably told you the story and filled in all the gaps."

"That is the problem, Mr. Potter. There are certain aspects to the story that simply do not line up."

"Excuse me Professor, but are you accusing all of us of lying?" James asked in mock childish innocence.

McGonagall's teeth clenched together tightly as she refrained from snapping at the cocky, injured student. She would be lying to say that she wasn't utterly horrified when she first saw him covered in blood and barely conscious in the passageway under the Whomping Willow. Until she heard from Madame Pomfrey that James would recover, she would spend every waking moment thinking about one of her most beloved students. It was no question that she loved all her students but she couldn't deny that James, the arrogant and cocky boy, had somehow weaseled his way into her heart. Not only was he a singularly gifted wizard, especially in the field of Transfiguration, he had one of the truest hearts she had ever had the pleasure of teaching.

"That is not what we are suggesting at all, my boy!" Dumbledore assured kindly. "We just want to hear what happened after you and Ursula Black left the Gryffindor Common Room."

James regarded them suspiciously, "Ursula's already woken up. Why didn't she tell you?"

The two professors shared a look with Madame Pomfrey. James got a horrible feeling in his stomach.

"Miss Black is unable to answer our questions at this time," McGonagall said with a great deal of repressed pain.

"What's wrong with her?! No one bloody told me anything was wrong!" James shouted, his concern blatant on his face for his friend.

Madame Pomfrey immediately stepped forward. "You need to calm down." She ordered him but instead, he simply directed his frustration towards her.

"Why didn't you tell me?! I've the right to know what happened to her; I'm as good as family!"

There was a beat of silence before Madame Pomfrey nodded. "Miss Black cannot answer our questions because she cannot remember."

All anger and annoyance flew from James's person. He fell against the bed and look up at the adults in resigned shock. "Does she remember anything?" He asked in a mere whisper.

He thought of all the memories with the raven haired girl he loved like a sister. All the pranks, the Quidditch practices, the days just talking, figuring out how to become an animagus, everything. Is it possible that she forgot everything? Could she be walking around right now, a shell of who she was? He wondered if she remembered this summer, running away to his house. Sirius? Is it possible that when she woke up Sirius called her name and she didn't respond? Elyse? Did she even remember her closest friend? Remus? Peter? Her roommates? With the force of a thousand bricks, James realized why Lily had reacted the way she did. He felt sickened when he realized how absolutely vile his little joke was.

"She remembers most of her life. It seems that only the last three years are mixed up, getting worse as time gets closer." McGonagall explained in a terse voice.

Dumbledore picked up on how distraught James was becoming at learning of his friend's – no sister's – plight. "We will leave you to rest. Perhaps it was not wise to speak to you so soon after you have woken."

James simply nodded, trying to process everything. The three adults left the teenager alone. It wasn't until later that afternoon when Madame Pomfrey went to check on him did she realize that it was never wise to leave someone like James to his own devices, as she discovered his empty bed with a note hastily scribbled left on the pillow

See you Poppy

When James finally got to the Gryffindor Common Room, he nearly attempted to hug the Fat Lady. He had never realized how many stairs there were in this school. By the time he got to the last staircase, he was nearly ready to collapse. After nearly two weeks of not using his legs and a severe injury to one of his leg, he was lucky that he was able to walk with the crutches.

"Password?" The Fat Lady asked.

Any thought of hugging the guardian of his common room instantly vanished from his mind, "Are you kidding me?! I've been bloody unconscious for the past two weeks and you think that I know the password!"

The Fat Lady turned her nose at his insolent behavior, "No password, no entrance."

James was just about to fire back a ready retort when the entrance suddenly opened from the other side. Elyse nearly threw herself at James, almost causing the pair to fall backwards on the stairs.

"James! Finally!" She laughed happily as she nearly crushed his still sore ribs.

His deeper laugh joined her tinkling laugh as he wrapped his arms around her the best he could while still keeping the crutches under him. Once she let him go, she turned to guide him back to the common room but he grabbed her arm and held her back.

"Elyse, I've heard about Sissy…" He trailed off.

Elyse smiled a little when she heard him refer to Ursula using Sirius's brotherly nickname for her but didn't comment on that. She simply nodded, "She's remembered a few things boot we've 'ad ter fill her in on woot 'as 'appened. James, there're some thing yeh need ter know…"

"I don't care. I just want to sit down." Without waiting for Elyse, he quickly entered the common room and nearly toppled over when he saw a pair sitting on the same sofa.

"Wha—?" He stared in shock at Ursula reading a book just a seat cushion away from Ben.

"'at's woot I was tryin' ter tell yeh. Ben's back."

"Why the bloody hell are you allowing this!?" He whisper shouted at her. "You know what he did to her!"

Elyse glared at James at the accusation. "Yeh don't think I've'd stopped it if I could? She don't remember anythin'!

Her shouting had drawn the attention of the occupants of the room. Ursula was out of her seat in a second and tightly hugging James. Sirius, Peter, and Remus joined and clapped James on the shoulder while Ursula still hugged him, welcoming him back. Over Ursula's shoulder, James glared fiercely at Ben, who had stood from the sofa and walked a little closer.

Ursula may have been able to forgive him but James sure as hell wasn't about to.

Returning to classes was a nightmare. Not only was everyone harassing him about his injuries, questioning him if he was returning to the Quidditch team, trying to catch up on two weeks of missed O.W.L classes, and having to try to walk around with crutches in the busy hallways, James's patience was wearing thinner and thinner by the day. He considered himself extremely independent, is was infuriating having to rely on other people to carry his books, help him up the stairs, and sometimes even stand up or sit down.

The incident also seemed to incite a renewed fervor between the rivalry of Gryffindor and Slytherin. Snape had obviously told as much as he could without telling about Remus's condition. Slytherins were furious that some Gryffindors had tried to kill one of their own. In turn, the Gryffindors were furious that Snape was spreading obvious lies about the Gryffindors.

It was late November in Transfiguration when James finally snapped.

It began as a regular class. James was sitting next to Sirius (who James had almost instantly forgiven for what he did) and glaring at Ben sitting in front of them next to Ursula. It bothered James to no end that Ben simply wormed his way back into Ursula's good graces when she couldn't remember why he was even in her bad graces.

Today was a test day and James had no problem finishing early. It was a simple theory test; he could have aced it even before his accident. Once he was done, he struggled to grab his crutches out from under the table. The noise attracted the attention of most of the class and they turned to stare.

"Oi, mate, do you want me to bring it up?" Sirius asked him in a whisper.

All the frustration that had been building in him for the last three weeks was at his limit. He took a deep breath to calm himself before he glared at Sirius and shook his head. He hobbled to the front of the room and handed the paper into McGonagall.

She held onto it a minute before she placed it on her desk. "I would like to remind you Mr. Potter that your career meeting will take place in exactly one week in at two in the afternoon. Take a look at some of these flyers before hand," she handed him a small stack of folded pamphlets.

James looked at the offered pieces of paper, "Shouldn't you just give those to Sirius to carry? I mean, it's not like I can do anything myself anymore." He felt a bit of guilt at snapping at McGonagall but if he got one more look or one more offer of help, he was going to push someone off the clock tower.

McGonagall simply raised an eyebrow. "I was not aware that you can no longer do anything for yourself. If carrying these to your seat proves too difficult for you then I will not expect you to have some idea of your future by next week. Deal?"

James laughed for what felt like the first time in forever and grabbed the papers. "Deal Minnie."

McGonagall didn't even bother trying to correct James's nickname for her. James made his way back to his desk, nearly losing his balance when Gabe Abbott stood up as James was walking past. Thankfully, he caught his footing, but the dozens of stuttered apologies grated against James's ears.

When he got back to his seat with the crumpled papers, he purposely jabbing Ben in the back when putting his crutches down. Ben jumped and turned to see James mock frowning at him apologetically. "Sorry mate, just returning the favor."

"Should have found something sharper," Sirius muttered, also glaring at Ben. James smirked and shared a hidden fist bump with Sirius

For the rest of the period James flipped through the pamphlets. Most were from the Ministry. The only one he even bothered to read was for the Auror department. His father had been an auror and a reasonably famous one at that. He was so liked and successful he became the head of the department. But James added it to the throw out pile – he wasn't ever going to work for the Ministry. It didn't matter that Jay White was the Minister and a man that James did trust; he didn't trust the rest of them. There were a few other jobs mentioned on other papers but nothing caught his attention. It seemed like everything was too…restricted…for him.

When the bell rang, Sirius instantly gathered up his books and went to grab James's when he was shoved away by James.

"What're you doing? Give me your books."

"No. I'm sick and tired of everyone taking care of me." James grabbed his books, violently shoved them in his bag, and quickly grabbed his crutches to start towards the common room.

It had been a struggle at first. That is, stairs had quickly become his worst enemy. Not only did they have the lovely habit of moving, they would often times be filled with other students who loved to stare and point at the 'cripple' struggling up the steps. James, who usually loved the spotlight, never wanted the attention for something like this. It was humiliating to see people staring at him with a mixture of pity and curiosity. He was James flippin' Potter; not this. No, he was never this.

"So what did you think of question ten?" Ursula asked as she walked next to him, the only person in the school who wasn't afraid of an angry James.

James just snorted, "It was obviously a trick question; you can't make food appear out of nothing. The law of conservation of—DAMNIT!" James yelped as he misjudged how high he had to lift his good foot and he ended up falling flat of his face before falling down about half the stairwell.

"JAMES!" A number of people shouted. Instantly he was surrounded by friends and strangers alike who were trying to help him up.

It was then that all his frustration boiled over. He shoved the closest person away.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" James shouted. "I'M NOT A BLOODY INVALID!" He snatched the offered crutch and threw it over the edge of the railing, smirking as he heard a satisfying shatter as it fell multiple stories before crashing into the stone floor.

"Get out of my way," he growled at the closest person, who unfortunately happened to be Lily. He didn't seem to realize that as he shoved past her, limping horribly. He gasped as he bent over to pick up his bag. His leg felt like it was on fire and so, so very weak. He grabbed onto the railing and took a few deep breaths before regaining his bearings and continued towards the common room. It didn't matter that it was lunch time and he was starving; he didn't want to deal with anyone.

Wisely, no one followed him and let him walk up the stairs on his own. By the end he was panting worse than he ever had after a Quidditch game. His eyes stung as beads of sweat rapidly fell down his face, matting some of his hair to his forehead. He struggled to lift his leg over the small step into the common room, after shouting the password at the Fat Lady.

At the sight of the sofa, he nearly toppled over in relief. There were two second years sitting there after class but James quickly rectified the situation when he barked, "scram!" at them. To say that they ran would be an understatement at the speed they moved.

James turned and groaned out loud as the pressure was finally relieved off his throbbing leg. He places his hand over the spot the initial injury occurred and he could feel his pulse through his robes and trousers. He still refused to believe that he would never be able to play Quidditch again the same way he had. He was not about to let this injury stop him; Quidditch was his passion.

He closed his eyes and leaned back, trying to repress the fears that were festering in his chest. They were horrible. Every time he had a bad day, they seemed to come back ten times stronger. You can't do it. You're not strong enough. You can't fix this. You're broken. It played like one of those muggle records Elyse had shown him.

Just as the emotions were about the drown him, a slight movement of someone sitting down next to him jostled him out of his thoughts. He was about to snap at the person but when he saw Ursula, he nearly sagged with acceptance. If there was one person in this entire castle who understood him and what he was going through, it was her.

"I wish I could help you James," she admitted. "it seems like I got the good end of the deal. My problems are only in my head." She shook her head and stared at the warm fire, majestically dancing away.

"I wish that too. Me forgetting, I mean. That wouldn't be so bad," James mused out loud.

Ursula chuckled humorlessly, "The only thing worse than forgetting is remembering."

"What do you mean?" James asked curiously. It had seemed to him that Ursula was coping well with her memory loss; not having problems talking to people and assimilating back into regular life.

Ursula turned to look when the entrance opened again and the rest of the group walked in. Elyse saw the pair talking and guided the rest of the group up to the boys' dorm. Remus looked at them in concern but he didn't say anything else and Peter looked like he wanted to go over to them. Sirius would have gone over to talk to his sister but Elyse had a firm grip on his wrist and pulled him up the stairs. Ben slowed and seemed to be having an internal debate if to go over to Ursula. But then he saw James's fierce glare and he too went up to his dorm.

"I've been remembering." Ursula admitted softly. James looked at her in shock. He hadn't known that her memories had started coming back. "And you know what the worst thing is? I wanted to remember. I wanted to remember everything that happened to me and everything. Now, I just want to go forget it all again."

"I'm so sorry," James said comfortingly, placing a hand on top of hers as her eyes filled with tears.

She sniffled and smiled at the simple action. "I woke up thinking my family loved me and was together, that all my friends were together and happy, Annabelle was about to have a baby, we've just won the Quidditch Cup, I've been able to make the animagus transformation. Everyone filled me in on what happened in the past year and while I knew what happened, I didn't know. Now I remember all the curses from my mother, all the hate from Reg, and every single cutting word from Ben's mouth. It hurts. Goddamnit, James, did it always hurt this bad?" she begged him. Silent tears ran down her face as she tried to stifle her cries.

James leaned forward and gathered her in his arms. She grasped the front of his shirt tightly as he held her tight. Not having an answer to her question, he simply kissed the top of her head in a brotherly fashion before tightening his grip on her as she took comfort in his embrace.

"We have potions and defense next right?" She asked weakly, once she was able to speak coherently again.

"After we technically go to History of Magic." He confirmed.

Ursula leaned back and looked at him suspiciously, "Technically?"

James smirked and struggled to stand up, "I'm starving. Let's go get lunch."

Ursula laughed and James threw his arm over her shoulders. He was too proud to admit it and Ursula would never say that he was using her as his crutch, as he had thrown his over the stairs.

After a hearty meal in the kitchens, they duo made their way to potions. Slughorn had spoken to them privately once they returned to class and actually apologized to them for the actions of a member of his house. He thanked them for putting their own personal safety aside to save a Slytherin from a horrible fate. With the thanks, of course, came an invitation for the Slugclub. Ursula had been about to refuse when James accepted on behalf of both of them. Ursula had nearly shoved him down the stairs but when he mentioned that Lily was in the Slugclub, Ursula smirked when she saw his cheeks go slightly pink.

They walked into Potions with just minutes to spare. James and Ursula had been paired together to try to catch up on the work and the bench they got was the one a few rows up from Lily and Snape.

It was a simple enough class. James and Ursula were writing out different spell ideas they wanted to use on some Slytherins before break. Out of the corner of his eye, James saw the greasy slime ball start walking down the aisle with a vial of the potion he and Lily had just finished.

James timed it just right that he stuck his good leg out just as Snape was walking past. As intended, Snape went tumbling down the remaining steps. Sirius's raucious laughter filled room as he saw the whole thing transpire. Even Remus was trying to hide his smile. Ursula was practically falling out of her seat she was laughing so hard as Snape's now potion filled face glared at James with a scathing and loathsome intensity.

"POTTER!" He screeched as he reached for his wand.

James held his hands up in mock innocence, "It wasn't my fault, Snivelly. Maybe you should look where you're walking." He said, glaring at Snape the entire time.

The one person James blamed for this entire thing; the injury, the emotional trauma he, Ursula, Remus, Elyse, Peter, Lily; hell, basically everyone experienced, was Snape. If Snape had just kept his nose out of their business, if he had just listened to him and left the shake before Remus transformed, everything could have been avoided. Yet he had. He had ruined everything.

Unfortunately, before James could hex Snape, Slughorn walked over and help Snape back to his feet and ushered him back to his work table. "I'm sure it was a simple mistake. Tell me Mr. Potter," he turned his attention to James, "would you maybe want to work at a larger work station so you have more room to stretch out your leg?"

James pretended to think it over before he shook his head, "No thank you Professor, I'm content right here."

"Very well. Just be a little more careful next time."

James nodded in mock sincerity, "Of course Sluggy."

Slughorn laughed and patted James on the shoulder jovially, "Oi! You've got quite the spirit in you! Sluggy!" Laughing to himself at the nickname, Slughorn continued to make his rounds around the room. Ursula was still shaking with silent laughter.

"Sweet Merlin, that was priceless," she laughed as she wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"I wish someone got a picture of that beauty." James said wistfully.

Ursula nudged his arm and then nodded in Elyse's direction, "I think she might've."

Elyse, as if she knew what was being said across the room, nodded and pointed to her bag where her camera was situated. James snorted and continued working on the potion.

Oh, how he loved blackmail.

Later that night, after all the classes had ended and practices were over, a silent shadow was making its way across the grounds. Underneath the invisibility cloak, accompanied by the Marauder's Map and his broom, James made his way to the Quidditch pitch. The team hadn't done that horrible in his and Ursula's absence and Sirius's expulsion from the team. Elyse had taken over as temporary captain and filled the beater spot with a good third year named Christopher Wood, Sean Wood's younger brother. They played on the strategy that Elyse would try to find the snitch as fast as possible as Moira tried to keep the Quaffle on the other side of the field with the three boys on defense protected the hoops at all costs. They had lost the game against Ravenclaw by about sixty points and almost tied with Hufflepuff. Those two losses alone hypothetically disqualified them from the finals but James was determined to get back to the field.

He had been told that flying would agitate his injury and without the strength in his one leg, he wouldn't be able to fly a broom again. Pomfrey had even contemplated that if he did gain some of his strength back, he would never be able to fly straight or play Quidditch again. It would be too much of a risk. He refused to believe that though. He was born to fly. It wasn't something that anyone could take away from him.

When he finally got inside the pitch, he left the map under the cloak and walked onto the pitch. He just stood there a moment, using the broom as a crutch as he simply breathed in the pitch. It was so right to be back standing there. The grass, the hoops, the towers, the stands, the air; it was all a part of him.

Without a second thought, James mounted the broom. He took a deep breath and kicked off.

And after two weeks unconscious in a leg and three weeks of struggling through everything, James was finally free again.


Hello, everyone! I decided to put the author's note down here so you guys could get straight into the horribly overdue chapter. So not exactly a lot going on in this chapter but I felt that it was important to see what James was going through in his mind. Imagine a healthy, young, athletic, independent, and wild teenager suddenly unable to even walk on his own anymore. He's frustrated, he's angry, and he just done. I felt like this chapter was final chapter to the whole incident before we start moving forwards again. Don't worry, it gets much lighter and more Marauder-ish as we move onwards. And the next chapter will hopefully be done in a week or so because I am done with school in a few days so I will have more then enough time to actually work on this my writing.

Now for some comments on reviews:

Livestrong617 - While this chapter didn't have a lot of Sirius and Ben interaction, there was a bit of James and Ben reactions to each other. There will be more on this topic in the next few chapters so keep a look out.

MarauderonFire - In the case of Sirius liking Elyse and vice versa, there isn't anything really there anymore. There will be some interaction between Elyse and Pat in the next chapter or so and that will be a bit telling about their relationships. I know this chapter didn't have a vision but you'll have to wait and see what is in store for the next few. I don't want to spoil anything but they are going to be some of the most heart wrenching. You'll see what I mean in the next year or so for them. And don't worry, we are definitely going to be getting some classic marauder action up in action again.

Laveycee - Sadly, no. Ben's not a Time Lord. It's just an expression. But it is funny that you should mention Time Lords considering I've been debating writing a Doctor Who story and I've just started writing out the outline about a week ago. Seeing where it goes, there might be a time lord story sometime soon. As for Ben regaining Ursula's friendship and love, let's just say no one is going to make it easy for him.