Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

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Lily's eyes fluttered open and as soon as consciousness was granted her stomach began to churn horribly. She winced before leaping off the white hospital bed she had fallen asleep on and dashed to the nearest bathroom. Her knees slammed painfully to the tiled floor in front of the toilet and soon she was retching horribly. A painful burning made manifest in her throat and she was sure her arms weren't supposed to be shaking that much.

Soon cool hands touched her neck, lifting her hair away from her face. The action was comforting, letting Lily know she was not alone. Gratitude swept through her, but it was short lived seeing as it was hard to focus when she was vomiting. It had been years since she had a cold, let alone a stomach bug. She couldn't help but wonder what it was that got her sick.

"It's okay, Lily, get it out," a voice whispered comfortingly, smoothing her hair from her brow. Alice.

After what seemed like hours Lily finally sat up, whipping her mouth on her sleeve, particularly disgusted with herself. Tears of pain and frustration dotted her cheeks and her whole body felt hot and uncomfortable. She fidgeted a bit; wrapping her arms around herself. Lily's bright eyes closed and she breathed in deeply, calming her frazzled nerves. She regulated her breathing before opening her green eyes again.

Lily looked over to Alice who was kneeling on the bathroom floor beside her. Her friend had a look of concern and worry and Lily was glad that she cared. Alice reached into her pocket and took out Lily's wand. Lily realized she must have dropped it on Marlene's hospital bed when she had rushed to the bathroom. It felt strange seeing it in someone else's hands. She hadn't let that wand out of her sight for months. She took it from Alice's hands gingerly, her own shaking horribly.

"Thank you Ali," she spoke after a few moments. She frowned at the acidic taste lingering in her mouth. It still burned slightly. "I don't know what's wrong. I was asleep…and then it was coming up and…"

"It's okay Lily, it's been a hard night," Alice said smiling warmly and rubbing her friend's back.

She left her hand on Lily's back, moving her other hand to her arm to help her stand. Lily wobbled a bit, black spots appearing before her eyes as she came to her feet. Alice steadied her before leading her out and back into the room Marlene and Frank were in.

They moved slowly through the bright white halls and Lily wondered how she had been able to find the bathroom so quickly. Their shoes made soft noises on the ground, but all else seemed to be silent. She figured it must be early. It was hard to tell though; the hospital didn't have windows in the hallways.

"Have you been feeling sick, Lily?" Alice asked her as they got closer to the room. Lily thought back, trying to look for any signs of whether or not she had. Usually she ignored any type of sickness she might have caught, there were too many other things to do. It sounded silly, but Lily thought that the only reasons he didn't get sick often was because she didn't have the time.

"Maybe," she finally admitted. "My stomach's been…off for a while now, I guess."

"Anything else?"

"I don't think so,"

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Alice said after some thought.

"I hope so…I feel horrible."

The two arrived at the hospital room. They walked in to see everyone sleeping soundly with the exception of Marlene and Frank sitting up looking groggy. It was then that Lily realized how crowded the room was. Beds were pushed in at odd angles, jammed into every corner. They were all Order members as well. The wing must be run by a friend of the Order, someone who could keep the secret of who was involved with the organization.

"Are you guys okay?" Marlene whispered once they got to the bed and plopped down on it. "You look deathly pale, Lily."

"My stomach was acting out. I'm okay now though,"

"You dashed out of here pretty fast," Frank said with a small grin. "Don't think I've ever seen you run so speedy,"

Lily chuckled weakly. She listened absentmindedly as the group began speaking of random things. Her thoughts were focused on something else. Why had she gotten sick? With something as muggle as the stomach flu as well. Perhaps it was something else though…a wizard thing or something. With a sigh she decided she best not worry about it any longer.

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"Good morning," James yawned, stretching and whacking Remus in the eye.

The three boys had fallen asleep on the Hospital Wing floor surrounded by the children once Sirius had gotten back. They had told the kids stories for a while, hoping Dumbledore would come visit before too long, but they had all drifted off sooner or later.

"What time is it?" Remus asked, kicking Sirius to wake him up. Sirius twitched a bit before snapping up, looking surprised.

"What's going on, what's happening?" he mumbled almost frantically, rubbing his eyes.

"Nothing, calm down," James said rolling his eyes. He glanced around and noticed that all the kids were still asleep. He motioned for Remus and Sirius to be quiet before standing and tiptoeing around them. The Hospital Wing was silent.

They left the room and collectively agreed that all the adults were probably in Dumbledore's office. They started the long trek through the winding halls, knowing that it would take a while before they would get there. It had been quite some times since they had tried to navigate Hogwarts. James wished they had the map. It would have been perfect. Problem was that Sirius had lost it after stealing Slughorn's pineapple.

"Are Frank, Alice, and Lily still at Mungo's?" Remus yawned, muffling the sound a bit.

"I'm not sure," James answered honestly. "Most likely. They probably fell asleep there,"

"I wouldn't be surprised if they came back soon," Sirius put in, starting to walk a little faster. He was beginning to get impatient. Remus and James matched his pace before continuing with the conversation.

"Where'd you go last night, Padfoot?" James asked.

"Exploring a bit…oh, and remind me to visit the Owlery once we speak to Dumbledore,"

"Got something to deliver?" Remus asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah,"

The stayed silent, knowing it was not the moment of pry. Of course both Remus and James were immensely curious, they just knew that it would be better to forget about it. Sirius could write anyone he wanted. It was none of their business and Sirius was glad that they understood.

As they came to the large winged statue guarding Professor Dumbledore's office they gave each other worried glances. Who knew what they'd be told once they went up.

"Drooble's Blowing Gum?" Sirius questioned. The statue stayed unmoved. It appeared that Dumbledore had changed his password since they had last tried to go up the steps to his office.

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans?" Remus tried. Nothing.

"You know," James started. "Dumbledore's been getting fond of muggle candy lately, have you noticed?"

"Might as well give it a try," Sirius said with a shrug.

"Fun dip?" Remus asked, remembering the colorful sour candy his mother used to always give him.

"Pixy Stix?"

"Hershey?" James tried

It was that word that made the golden statue unfurl its incredibly long wings, opening the way. James grinned widely at their success. He couldn't count how many times they had sat outside the office shouting different words for ages before they got it right back at school. The three made the trek up the stairs easily, all with newfound energy given by the excitement of finding out what had happened the night before.

Sirius, being the first to get to the top, flung Dumbledore's large wooden door open without so much as a knock first. He figured it was not the time for formalities. The tree practically tripped over each other trying to get in and came out the other side ready to topple over. They luckily avoided the embarrassment and looked up to see that Dumbledore was still speaking to all the parents along with members of the staff. He looked up when they came in and smiled wearily.

"Good morning, boys. I was wondering when we'd see you. Is all well?" the man asked.

"Relatively," Remus said with a shrug.

"Marlene's at Mungo's. She's got a broken leg I think, a concussion too. She'll be fine in a day or too," James supplied.

"Lily and the Longbottoms?" Dumbledore asked.

"Visiting, I think they stayed the night,"

"We're all fine," Sirius said quickly. "Just tell us what happened,"

"That's what we'd all like to know, Mr. Black. I have a…hunch, however."

"Well a hunch is better than nothing," Sirius said, pulling up a chair. The others followed his actions.

A glance around the room showed a dozen or so extremely exhausted parents and worried teachers. James noticed that there was a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher as well. He wasn't surprised. Everyone knew of the infamous curse placed upon the position. James wondered how Dumbledore managed to find a new person to fill the position every year.

"So what's this hunch?" Remus asked.

"Well, we shall start at the beginning with the menacing voice we heard in my office," Dumbledore said with a chuckle. Apparently he found Voldemort amusing. "You all know who that was. Tom is getting quite showy I'm afraid."

"Why? He was distracting us for some reason," James asked.

"Well first we need to look at how he was distracting us," Dumbledore spoke. He turned to one of the couples. They looked relatively young. The mother had big blues eyes that were quite familiar.

"I'm Rachel Jones," the woman spoke, sticking out her hand for each of them to shake. "I think I was in my…sixth year when the famous Marauders came to Hogwarts," she said with a sparkly smile. He smile was bright and warming, but her eyes were still worried.

"You wouldn't happen to be related to a Caroline?" Sirius asked, making the connection.

"Our daughter," the husband spoke. "I'm Levi," he said, also offering his hand.

"She's…bright. I swear sunshine radiates off of her," James said with a smile.

"She's so brave," Rachel said, her voice shaking a bit. "Did you save her?"

"Actually," James started. Before he could finish the door was pushed open, Alice, Frank, and Lily walking into the room. He smiled at them, looking over Lily intently. She was pale and seemed shaky. He frowned a bit, but was able to mask it quickly. Perhaps she was just tired.

"Good morning Alice, Frank, Lily," Dumbledore greeted. "Find a chair, I made sure there were extras for tonight."

"Thank you," Alice said. James noticed she was standing close to Lily, her hand ready to steady her. He watched as they got chairs, Lily dragging hers over to where he was.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly as everyone else was getting situated. Her small hand found his and he felt a little bit better.

"I'm okay James, I promise," she said with a small smile, moving her hair out of her face with her free hand.

"Rachel," James said looking up. "It was Lily who saved Caroline actually, she got all the children in your neighborhood." Lily looked over at the woman James was speaking too. She could see the resemblance.

"I'm Lily Potter," she said. Rachel smiled.

"It's nice to meet you,"

"Tell them what happened Mrs. Jones," Dumbledore said after a moment.

"I was reading to Caroline when we heard the noises. Crashing and banging. Next were the shouts and the blasts, our house was broken into. I ran to help my husband and Caroline; she hid under the bed like we've told her. She's clever like that," Rachel said fondly. "As soon as I got down someone grabbed onto me and apparated. I don't remember anything after that up to when we got dropped off outside Hogwarts."

"So you didn't fight?" Lily asked, looking confused. Rachel and Levi both shook their head no. "The house," she started. "When I showed up it was in shambles, everything broken or turned over. There was blood along the walls."

"We didn't have time to do so much as think of a spell," Levi said.

"So they staged it," Lily asked Dumbledore. "They messed the house up after everyone was gone."

"That's what it appears to be."

"And the children?"

"All were left,"

"Why didn't they take the children too?" Alice asked.

"It is the innocence of a child that is perhaps once of our greatest weaknesses. If the children need saving then we will take all the time we need to save them."

"So they left the kids so that we'd look for them?"

"You left right after you found them, did you not? If there had been no children and no adults then you would have left immediately,"

"And all the people in James' section?"

"You were quite clever Lily, we wouldn't have gotten there half as soon if you hadn't figured it out. From what I heard your patronus was beautiful," he said with a sparkle in his eyes.

"If Voldemort was making us busy with this fight then what was he doing?" Sirius finally asked. It was the question they all wanted answers to.

"From my knowledge he was…running errands," Dumbledore's eyes suddenly took on a depressing quality. The man actually frowned, something they hadn't seen him do in quite some time. "Sirius, I'm afraid that during these 'errands' your brother did not come out alive."

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Yay! New Chapter! Face the World Fighting is nearly over, maybe three or four chapters left. After that I'll take a break before writing the final story in the trilogy. Anyway, did you guys like this one? What do you think of Lily being sick? Please Review!

-Sweets5236