Catnap

Prompt: "I need this."

Setting: Canon (November in their 6th year in Hogwarts)

1,000 Words

A low rumbling sound filled James' ears as he woke up, sprawled on a sofa in the Gryffindor Common Room. For a while he just lay there, groggy and exhausted and utterly confused why he was down here and not in the dormitory. The other big question was why he was feeling like shit? The crick on his neck was probably thank to slumming it on the sofa but other muscles were sore as well. His shoulder was stinging, there were occasional twinges of pain at his left temple and his chest felt heavy.

James blinked blearily and it all came back to him in a rush that left him gasping: he was having perhaps the worst weekend of his life.

Saturday morning had started well enough, James had been full of hope. The start of the Quidditch season had got him brimming with barely contained energy that was part excitement and part anxiety. They had been training hard all week and he had been looking forward to going out to the pitch so he could show the whole school what his team could do.

Perhaps it had been arrogance on his part, but not even once did he seriously believe that they would lose the match.

But they had. Thankfully, at least the final score was fairly even; Slytherin had only won by 30 points so they still had every chance of winning the cup. For the majority of the match – until James had taken a nasty Bludger to his head and Regulus Black had snatched the Snitch right under Dorcas' nose – Gryffindor had been winning.

Of course, thanks to the incident with the Bludger, James had missed out on the end of the game and hadn't actually seen the capture of the Snitch. He'd been too busy plummeting towards the ground while unconscious. He later learned that he had narrowly been saved from becoming a pancake by their Beater, Frank Longbottom's, heroic dive to grab him.

Needless to say, James had spent the rest of the day stuck in a bed in the Hospital Wing, while Madam Pomfrey tutted at him while shaking her head, and a host of visitors marched in to try and cheer him up, starting from his teammates and ending with his best mates.

James frowned, wondering if his brain had taken enough beating to screw up with his memory or not, because he could've sworn that Lily Evans had been somewhere in that stream of people coming to his bedside. He could recall her scathing tone that had been slightly at odds with the expression in her wide, green eyes, as she had promptly told him that this only went to show his head was as hard as it was big.

It sure sounded like something Evans would say, but that bit of memory couldn't be right, could it? Lily Evans had no reason to visit him in the Hospital Wing, they weren't exactly friendly.

Madam Pomfrey had wanted to keep him overnight for observation, just to be on the safe side, but James had snuck out at nightfall when she had left to help Remus.

It just hadn't been enough that he'd suffered a potential brain injury and lost to Slytherin in his first ever match as the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team – of course Saturday night had also happened to be the night of the full moon.

No wonder he was exhausted and in pain, James thought wryly. He wasn't sure if it was because of running around all night or the animagus transformation itself, but his entire body always felt sore afterwards.

James tried to sit up when something pricked his chest. He adjusted his glasses and looked down to find a grey cat curled up on his chest.

Unexpected, but that did explain the rumbling noise and why he'd been feeling so warm.

He stared at the cat and it stared back at him. A small furry paw kneaded his chest as it purred. James wasn't sure why a strange cat was using him as a pillow, but then decided he didn't care. The small weight and the steady low purr were oddly comforting. He ran his hand along the soft fur and eased back against the sofa. He kept petting the cat, and felt his eyes slide shut.

He was very close to dozing off again, when a soft voice startled him awake.

"All right, Potter?"

Lily Evans leaned against the back of the couch.

It took James a moment to respond; his breath had caught and not just from the surprise of suddenly finding her standing there.

"G'morning," he managed at last, his fingers twitching against the cat's sleek back.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I was pummelled by a Bludger."

Evans' lips twitched in a brief smile, then she glanced at the cat. "Stealing other people's pets, now?"

"I'm not, it was there when I woke up. But I've got to admit it feels kinda nice."

"Millie has her moments," Evans hummed.

James looked from her to the cat. "She's yours?"

Evans nodded.

"Shit. Sorry."

"It's fine, I was only joking." Evans shook her head. "She looks rather comfortable where she is so I might as well lend her to you for a while."

"Sorry?" James gaped at her. Who was this nice girl and what had she done to Evans?

"I think you need her more than I do, after the day you had. Everything feels a bit better after cuddling with Millie."

"I'll give that a try then," James promised.

Evans nodded and turned to leave. "Try to steer clear from any Bludgers in the future."

"Worried, Evans?" James asked with a small grin.

She didn't turn back to look at him, and her voice was barely above whisper as she replied: "I was."

She walked away, leaving James to stare at the content cat.

If this was what came out of it, perhaps he should get hit on the head more often.