James stayed like that, next to Lily, all day. He didn't go to classes; he knew Sirius, Remus or Peter would cover for him. He only hoped she would wake when he called her name over and over again. She didn't of course, but that didn't mean he was ever going to give up.
"I miss you Lil." He said, then chuckled. "And if you were here, you would probably call me a Drama Queen, like you always do. I know it's only been a day, but I'm scared for you. People aren't supposed to not ever wake up. That's how people die Lil." He voice cracked at the end, and he wondered whether he should be telling her all this. If, she could in fact, hear him as he dreamed, would she want to know he was worried for her? Would it anger her, knowing that she could hear him, but not be able to tell him that she was fine?
"Lil, I need you here. Please, if you can hear me, try to wake up. I know I'm an idiot and you're probably rolling your eyes at my stupidity, but I don't know how these things work! Maybe if you just dream that you're pinching yourself, you'll wake up?" He chuckled nervously, imagining her scoffing at him. "I'm going crazy. It hasn't even been a full 24 hours without you. You see how much you control me?" He said, grabbing her hand. It was limp, and he blinked back tears, mind flashing again to her at a funeral home, him grieving over her dead body.
"Give me a sign that you can hear me. Please baby, give me something."
"Baby…" She sighed. If the room hadn't been so quiet he wouldn't have heard her say it at all. Her mouth hardly even formed the word, but he understood it.
He gasped, dropping her hand as if it had burned him. He recovered, taking it back and squeezing it.
"Baby, I'm here. Lil, baby I'm here!" He said, anxious to hear her say it again. But she didn't, as many times as he repeated the word.
"Mmm." She moaned in her sleep, mouth forming a small smile. He wanted to throw a party in celebration, as he took both her hands in his, and brought them to his lips, kissing each of them.
His watch beeped, ruining the calm silence and serenity. He glared at it, then saw the time.
"Bugger!" He muttered, placing her hands down gently, then grabbing his bag. He pecked her on the forehead through the cloak, as all their contact had been.
He looked over to Madam Pomfrey, who was scribbling down something on a piece of paper.
"I'll see you later Lils, I promise." Then he patted her hand, and rushed out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
Peeling the cloak off his body, he shoved it into his bag, grunting again, then running to the Headmaster's office.
"Sugarquills." He said, then ran past. Dumbledore's password was always something from the Sweetshop. James reminded himself to remember this when buying a present for the Headmaster for Christmas.
He knocked on the door, and Sirius yelled, "Come in mate!"
James didn't need telling twice. He pulled open the door, and rushed in, wincing.
"Sorry I'm late professor." He said, doing a weird sort of bow thing to the Headmaster, who chuckled in response.
"Have a seat James." He said, conjuring up a fifth seat. James sat down and looked at his four friends, who smiled in response, though they looked almost confused.
"I believe your friends have some questions to ask James. I think I'll go make some tea." And with that, Dumbledore stood up, and made his way to the door.
"No sugar please, Professorhead!" Sirius called, cupping a hand to his mouth.
"Never Sirius." Dumbledore chuckled, and left the room, shutting the door behind him.
"Where have you been?" Remus asked, sounding awfully stern for a 16 year old teenager.
"Sorry mom." He said sarcastically, and Remus rolled his eyes.
"You know what I mean. You can't just skip Transfiguration like that, mate. Maybe with another teacher, like Slughorn, but McGonagall?" Remus shook his head.
"He's right." Jane said. "We said you had a meeting before we all did for an hour with Dumbledore. She bought it, but she'll probably ask Dumbledore about it later, so watch out."
"Thanks." He said, then an awkward pause filled the room.
"Well, where were you?" Sirius demanded.
"I told you I was going to see Lily. And I won't have to watch out for McGonagall, Dumbledore'll cover for me." He said confidently.
Marlene raised her eyebrows quizzically. "If you're sure…"
"I am. Trust me. And guess what?" He said, voice rising in excitement.
"What?" They said expectantly.
"She spoke!"
Their jaws dropped. "You're joking!"
"I'm serious." James said, with a warning glance at Sirius, who put up his hands defensively.
"Well? What'd she say?" Marlene demanded.
"Er…" He said, thinking of what she said. He knew of course, but that was not really something he wanted to tell them.
"Well?" Jane deadpanned. He was hit with a pang of irritation at these girls' non-stop questioning, but he reminded himself they were her best friends after all. If it were Sirius or Remus in a coma, he would ben asking endless questions too. At that, he decided they deserved to know.
"Well, I was like… talking to her." He started, then seeing Sirius gasp, he added on, "She wasn't talking back." Sirius nodded. "And well, I kind of said…" He felt his cheeks redden, and Marlene smiled.
"James, you can tell us. Don't be embarrassed."
"Okay, okay well I kind of, asked her for a sign that she could hear me. But I called her baby at the end. And well… she repeated the word. It was only a whisper, but I know that's definitely what she said."
"Aww!" Jane and Marlene sang in unison. Sirius and Remus turned to their girlfriends slowly, and the girls laughed.
"Well c'mon. You don't think that's like… the most romantic thing ever?" Marlene said to Sirius. Sirius shook his head as a no, and she punched him lightly in the shoulder.
"Insensitive git." She muttered, chuckling.
Dumbledore knocked on the door lightly, and they called for him to come in. He carried with his wand some hot water, a sugar pot, some cream, and teacups each filled with one tea bag each.
"Here you are. Now, I'm afraid if you are all finished, I need to ask some questions." Dumbledore said seriously. The five students nodded solemnly, switching to grim faces, as they were brought back to the reality of what had happened.
"To start with, I need to clear a few things up. James, as I take it, you were with Ms Evans at the time?"
James shut his eyes wincing, then nodded.
"And Sirius and Marlene you two were…"
"Upstairs in my room." Marlene said. It only just occurred to James as strange why they were here.
"But I saw Malfoy duck out of the Great Hall early like me. He threw in a few good insults," Sirius said, face darkening. "Then joined up with a few other Slytherin students."
"May I ask who these students were?"
"Snape, Avery and Mulciber." Sirius answered clearly, as if he'd been waiting to be asked this question. Dumbledore nodded, then James thought he should add in, "We saw them before we er, pulled our prank too."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at this new information, then nodded slowly.
"We'll get back to that. Remus and Jane you were doing what last evening?"
"Er… walking through the hallways." Remus said, looking slightly ashamed.
"Well, it's a good thing you were or you wouldn't have been able to stop Mr Malfoy." Dumbledore smiled. Remus and Jane looked up, grinning.
"Which brings us back to the question: What was Mr Malfoy doing in the hallways at such a late hour?"
"And Snape, Avery and Mulciber." James added, and Dumbledore nodded.
"I hate to think the worst of people, but surely it cannot have been good." Dumbledore said, and Sirius couldn't stop himself.
"They're Death Eaters!" He blurted out. Dumbledore fixed him with a small smile.
"I know you are all thinking that, but I assure you they are not. I took the liberty of looking at Mr Malfoy's left arm while he was paralyzed. He has nothing, nor do the three other boys."
"Well then they're in training!" Sirius argued.
"Mr Black, you have to know that such an accusation must be supported with facts."
"We have facts! Tell him Remus!" Sirius said, looking to Remus. Remus coughed.
"Well Professor, he tried to use an unforgivable curse on Jane." Remus' hand tightened around Jane's at this, and a small growl escaped his lips.
Dumbledore looked affronted. "The cruciatix curse?" He guessed well. Jane and Remus nodded in unison, and Dumbledore's face showed no emotion.
"Well, I think that will be enough for today." He said, getting up, still not meeting the five students' eyes. "Thank you very much for coming to see me, I will alert you if we ever need to do this again." He opened the door to his office, and they walked out confusedly.
Shutting the door behind them once Sirius was out, the five students walked down to the Gryffindor tower in silence.
"Do you think he believes us?" Marlene asked.
"He has to. If he didn't, he would've asked to use the trust potions on us. He didn't." Remus said.
"Devil's snare." They said distractedly to the Fat Lady, who swung open. Sirius and Remus helped their girlfriends climb in, and James felt oddly like a fifth wheel, walking in by himself.
I can't wait to see Lily again. He thought to himself, sitting on the common room couch beside his friends. They all seemed to be thinking the same thing as well. They all missed their favorite redhead's lively presence. She brought out the best in nearly all of them.
AN: Soo yeah.. Our dear Lily Evans is in a coma. What will happen? Review to find out quicker! The more reviews I get, the more I know people want chapters up soon!
I hope you readers liked this chapter, and NOTE: if there are any Brits out there reading this, would you please kindly tell me if my (failed attempt) and british speaking is working? I've been trying for the past few chapters and so far no Brits have stepped forward so I'm taking that as I'm doing good? Haha tell me please, I'd love you forever! :)
Thanks again for reading, until next chapter!
-Taylor :)
