NEW CHAPTER! o.O I'm THAT good ;) Nah, it's exactly 2,000 words! Cool, huh? :D

Anyways, I'm going away for the weekend to my brothers wedding, and I'm SO looking forward to it. So much that I sit dancing in my bed right now! :O

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe, nor will I ever. It belongs fully to J.K. Rowling.

Claimer: I do own Vilde, Julie, Erynne and any other characters you've never read or heard about in the books/movies.

Thanks to:

Chocoholic93

Izzy Black Weasley

nerds and lovin it

Hermitt

SMUSH04

ENJOY!

Chapter 14: In sickness and in Potions.

James woke in his room that he had all to himself now. He somehow missed waking up with Remus, Sirius and Peter nearby, but at the same time, it was nice with some privacy. Not to mention that he now stayed not ten feet away from Lily. And though she had made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him, he still found it nice to have her so close. Dammit, Prongs. You truly love her, dimwit.

He walked out of his room and walked over to see if Lily had left; she usually left her door slightly open when she did. But the door was still closed. James frowned. Had she overslept? James usually woke up twenty minutes before class and went down to eat breakfast. He always had little time to get ready. But Lily wasn't like that, was she? No.

So James walked up to the door to check if he could hear someone moving in the room. He couldn't. He even got a bit worried. He checked his watch and saw that he only had a quarter to get down and eat.

"Lily?" James asked through the door.

He could hear a small groan. James smiled at that. He never knew she liked to sleep so much.

"Lily, the clock is a quarter to nine," James said a little louder this time.

Nothing. He then heard her cough. And badly at that. James frowned and worry pained his chest.

"Lily, I'm coming in, okay? You don't sound so good," he said, and when he heard nothing, he walked into the room.

James wasn't surprised when he saw that the room was as neat as it had been when they moved in. It was dark there, though, and only a few beams of light entered the room through the thick, red curtains. The floor creaked a bit when James moved over to the bed.

"James?" a voice croaked.

James stopped. "Yes?" he asked.

"Why are you in here?" Lily asked him, her voice still slightly hoarse.

"I thought… Never mind. I'll just go," James said and turned to leave.

"James, I think I need to go to the infirmary," Lily said, and James stopped in his retreat.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice laced with concern.

"Just let me get my robes on, okay? I might need your help," Lily said, sounding like she was about to cry.

"Right. I'll wait right outside," James said and walked out of the door, not closing it entirely, so he could hear her if something was wrong.

He heard her feet walking in the room and the occasional creak from the planks on the floor. He then heard cloth being pulled on. Then silence.

"Lily?" James asked after ten seconds of complete silence.

"'m fine," Lily said slowly, and James was surprised that the voice was so close.

The door opened slowly and out came Lily. Except she looked like a ghost of Lily, or something. Her skin was completely pale, and her eyes were lucid. She looked downright weak.

James frowned. "Come here," he said silently, reaching out his arm for her to take.

Lily looked at it for a short amount of time, before grabbing it, and leaning against James as the two of them made their way to the infirmary.

Vilde and Julie were looking slightly serious for a change.

"Where is Lily?" Vilde eventually asked as the girl didn't seem to show up.

"And James," Sirius threw in.

"I dunno, really. She knows we have potions early Wednesdays. So why isn't she here?" Julie asked.

"Maybe she overslept?" Erynne suggested, who was sitting beside Vilde.

The two girls laughed slightly at that.

"Lily would never oversleep. She's way too uptight when it comes to being precise," Julie explained to Erynne.

"Yeah, I kinda had that impression," Erynne said slowly.

"James is more likely to have overslept. Maybe she feels it's her duty to wake him up and get him to class on time?" Julie then said, sniggering at the thought of Lily trying to wake up James.

"Well, we only have two minutes to get to potions, so we should really go. Maybe Lily and James are there already?" Vilde suggested, and the three girls plus the marauders left their benches and walked to their class in potions.

Madam Pomfrey frowned as she held her hand on Lily's forehead.

"Is she all right?" James asked immediately in worry.

"You have a high fever, Ms. Evans, and you will have to stay here until it lowers again," Madam Pomfrey said.

"I'll stay too!" James said immediately.

"Mr. Potter will go to class this instant, or I will rapport him," Madam Pomfrey said in a sugarcoated voice to Lily.

"Fine! Rapport me!" James said loudly.

"James, I'm fine. Just go," Lily said harshly.

James looked at her. She looked anything but fine. But he also knew there was nothing he could say against her when she was this decided.

"Fine," he said with a sigh and took Lily's hand, "Just get well, okay?"

Then he let go and left a flabbergasted Lily behind. Madam Pomfrey was almost looking smug.

The seven people walked into potions where Vilde and Julie sat down at one table, and the three marauders at another. Erynne frowned and looked around the room.

"There is a seat for you here, you know, Erynne," Vilde said pointing to the open spot next to her.

"I know. I just figured I'd test something new," Erynne said, grinning happily as her eyes landed on her victim.

Vilde and Julie sniggered as they saw Erynne walk over to a slimy-haired boy sitting on the other side of the classroom. He was even sitting alone.

"Hey Severus," Erynne said, and he looked up at her, "Mind if I sit?"

Severus shook his head, even though he didn't bother to say anything to her.

"Good morning, my students! How are you today?" Horace Slughorn asked the class.

He got no reply, but he didn't seem to expect one as he started explaining what brew they would make today. It was a potion that would kill plants like tentaculas and other venomous plants. Erynne had actually brewed it before on her old school, so she turned to look at Severus, who was writing in his textbook. Erynne noticed how many of the words in the recopies had been crossed out and replaced by new ones.

"Have you figured out all that?" Erynne asked surprised.

Severus closed his book immediately and looked almost annoyed at Erynne. "What's it to you?" he asked venomously.

"Nothing. It's just, that's bloody cool, you know," Erynne said, grinning widely.

Severus looked at her for a second or so, with a small frown, then returned to his book, opening it again.

"Whatever," he said.

Erynne grinned and looked at his cauldron. It looked rather old, and completely worn out.

"Do you brew potions in your spare time as well?" Erynne asked.

Severus looked up from his book. "A little, yes," he said in a monotone.

"I suppose you're an expert on the subject then," Erynne said, and opened her book on the page the rest of the class was on.

Severus didn't say anything for a while. But then he turned to her. "I'm not an expert. I simply enjoy it," he said calmly.

"And the things you like usually make it easier, and you end up being an expert," Erynne said wisely.

"I don't need your pity," Severus said coolly.

Erynne frowned. "Pity? Why would I pity you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Severus turned to his book again. "Never mind," he said.

Erynne shook her head slightly and started adding the right ingredients into her cauldron, just like Severus was doing at the moment too. Erynne looked over to her best friends, who were currently looking at her. They both grinned and showed thumbs up. Erynne flashed the peace sign, grinning too.

"Why didn't you sit over with them?" Severus asked her, noticing that she was conversing with them non-verbally.

"Because I like getting to know other people too," Erynne simply stated.

That wasn't the complete truth, though. There was just something very interesting about Severus, and she couldn't figure out what it was.

"Right," Severus said.

"What? You don't believe me?" Erynne asked.

"I didn't say that," Severus said.

"Right," Erynne said.

"I'm serious," Severus said in a hushed tone.

"See? Everyone thinks people are being sarcastic when people say 'right'. Therefore, so did I. And you. So, let's just forget that," Erynne said, grinning again.

"You're weird," Severus said.

"Aw, thanks!" Erynne said happily.

Severus rolled his eyes, making Erynne's grin wider. She made him do a facial!

When the class was close to an end, people were still trying to finish their potion. Not including Severus, though. He was looking at Erynne as she put the last ingredient into her potion, and started stirring it.

"You're really good at this, Severus, you know that right?" Erynne asked when she noticed he was paying attention to the stirring of her potion.

"I don't need your compliments," Severus said coldly.

Erynne stopped stirring for a second, but quickly resumed. "I'm not so shallow that I tell you compliments because I pity you. I don't even know why I should pity you, okay? So stop acting like that. I'm giving you compliments, because you deserve them. Because they're true," Erynne said harshly, and Severus frowned.

They were silent for a while before Severus opened his mouth and said one word: "Fine."

Erynne grinned at that. She then also noticed how James was sitting next to Vilde and Julie. Had he been there for long? Erynne hadn't noticed before. She shrugged, but wondered where Lily was.

When James entered in the middle of the class, Vilde and Julie had gotten him to sit next to them. The two girls noticed how pale he looked.

"What is it, Jamie?" Vilde asked with a small frown.

"Lily's sick. She's up in the infirmary," James said slowly.

Both Vilde and Julie made a move to bail on the class, but James stopped them.

"It's no use. Madam Pomfrey will send you away at once," he said, sighing.

Vilde and Julie nodded. They should've known anyways; James would never have come to class had he been allowed to stay in the infirmary.

"Hey! What's Erynne doing, sitting over with Snivellus?" James asked shocked.

Vilde and Julie both hit him in the back of his head. "Ouch!" he yelled.

"What seems to be the problem, girls?" Slughorn asked them.

"Nothing. He's just being a Potter, that's all," Vilde said, grinning.

Slughorn smiled back at her, and then said. "Oh, there will be an upcoming party in the Slug club! Julie, please come too!" he said, smiling widely.

Julie nodded with a smile. "Sure. When?" she asked.

"The upcoming Saturday," Slughorn said.

"They can't!" James suddenly yelled, and the two girls and Slughorn looked at him shocked. Others were also paying attention to them.

"Why?" Vilde asked with a frown, not that she was unhappy that she would be able to get out of the Slug Club feast.

"It's Quidditch on Saturday. Us against Slytherin, remember?" James asked.

"Oh, of course!" Vilde exclaimed, extremely happy.

"Well, then, I suppose there are more than just you two that won't be able to come. Like Lily, I suppose. I should just post-pone it," Slughorn said and walked up to the teacher's desk.

"Oh jolly, we didn't even get out of it. He post-poned it!" Vilde said in a hushed tone.

Lily was looking at her hand. It was like every emotion in the world was lingering on her hand. James wasn't that important to her. Of course, she'd be sad and worried if he was the one who got sick, but he was still James. She sighed and laid back down on the pillow with a rapidly beating heart that had nothing to do with her sickness.

James: I did enjoy this chapter.

Lily: Of course you did. When you're allowed so close to me, anyone would love it!

Julie: Wow! We're growing on you, Charmy!

Vilde: Like, totally!

James: Oh shut it all of you.

Wow, James, that's unusual of you to tell Lily to 'shut it'.

James: I didn't mean it as in a bad way; I simply don't want them to be so mean to me.

Sirius: You're being stepped on, James. Like always.

Says you!

Sirius: What do you mean?

Show it to him, Julie.

Julie: With pleasure. Sirius, honey! Can you give me a glass of steamy hot chocolate?

Sirius: I'll be right back with that!

Jeez, no self-respect… Oh well. I hope you enjoyed the chapter everyone! Next chapter will be up next weekend, so hehe! :D

Oh, and the last chapter wasn't just to waste your time. It's just that I have to plan it all out, so I don't do any mistakes. ^^

You know you love me
XOXO

-Gaara's Devil