Chapter 4: Healings and Dreams.
The journey back to Gryffindor tower had thankfully been uneventful. Lily and Sirius trudged their way into the common room and removed the invisibility cloak. Lily opened the door to the boy's dorm so that Sirius could place them in their beds. Lily was about to leave.
"Wait Lily, you helped create the mess they're in, so you're going to fix it." Sirius said looking at the smaller girl. Lily nodded.
"We'll have to work together, until Prongs and Moony are back to full health." Sirius continued. A look of confusion spread on her face.
"Until they heal, you'll refer to James as Prongs and Remus as Moony." Sirius explained.
"Ok, but what can I do to help?" Lily asked in a shaky whisper.
"I'm no nurse. We'll both have to help with medication. I'll make up the excuse for Prongs not being in class and you'll have to help homework wise. Prongs is a genius compared to me, so I'm no good there." Sirius answered. Lily nodded again and turned to leave.
"Sirius, I'm so sorry," Lily apologised teary eyed.
"I know." Sirius nodded and gave her a small reassuring smile.
Lily walked to her dorm. She collapsed onto her bed and stayed awake for a long time, her tears keeping her awake. She draped the hangings of her four-poster bed so that no one would wake up and disturb her. After what seemed like only a few hours, she rose and headed for the bathroom. She washed her tear stained face with cold water. Her eyes looked puffy and the glow in her eyes were lost. She showered and headed for the common room. She headed for the boy's dorm and knocked gently on the door. It opened a crack and as Sirius answered it. He then opened it wider and stepped aside so that she could enter. She saw wash basins, bandages and different bottles scattered in the room. She instantly took the hint and picked up a washcloth. She walked to Remus' bed and started removed some of his robes. She then started to clean the cuts that had been bleeding.
"I thought you would've started with Prongs." Sirius uttered and started to clean Prongs' wound.
"I'm not a reliable friend. He deserves better than a person like me." Lily replied to his little query. They remained silent for the rest of the time. Replacing bandages and cleaning wounds that would open up occasionally.
"Where's Peter?" Lily asked curiously.
"He's in the library. He's looking for potions that may help heal those two." Sirius replied.
Silence loomed over them again. Sirius looked at his watch and saw how Breakfast would finish soon and their first class would start soon.
"Listen Lily, classes are starting soon. We'd better go. At lunch, we'll come back and check up on Prongs and Moony. And could you place a charm on the door so that no one can enter?" Sirius asked. They both headed outside and Lily charmed the door so that it was locked securely. Now they headed for their first class, Herbology.
The day seemed to be against Lily and Sirius, the teacher's seemed to be piling homework on them, which meant double for Lily, and Sirius had somehow managed to get two detentions for incidentally turning Snape's hair into blue snakes and throwing bubotuber pus at Malfoy's face. No one had asked where Remus was, but they all asked where James was. Sirius simply told them that James was serving a day's detention for shooting a projection of Professor Trelawny doing the can-can in a tuxedo. As lunch came, the duo headed back to Gryffindor tower, and checked up on Prongs and Moony. Remus had started to pull through and was fully conscious again. They made him stay in bed, and Lily left any homework they had been assigned for him to do. He wasn't exactly happy with the prospect of doing homework, but he was bed bound with nothing to do.
"Lily, I am sorry for trying to attack you. I have no control as a werewolf. Whenever a werewolf smells a mere human, it will attack. And I have no control of it," Remus apologised.
"No need to apologise Moony. If I had listen to Prongs and Padfoot, this would have never happened and Prongs wouldn't be in the position he is now," Lily whispered guiltily.
"Don't worry Lily. Our Prongs is a strong boy. He'll pull through." Remus said reassuringly but he wavered for a second.
"It's my fault. I shouldn't have attacked him. My senses as a werewolf are totally knocked away, and I'm usually calmer around the animagus, but since you were there, I couldn't control it." Remus said staring at the figure of James lying still on the bed.
"Hey, you two shouldn't place blame anywhere. We should be doing all we can to heal Prongs here," Sirius called over at the two.
"He's right." Remus said," for once." He smirked. Lily smiled a little and then looked at her watch. Lunch would end soon and she hadn't had any breakfast, neither did Sirius for that matter.
"Let's get something to eat. Lunch will be ending soon," Lily said and stood up. They headed towards the door, closed and locked it.
"Damn! I'm hungry, you couldn't bring up some food later?!" Remus called. He heard a muffled reply from the door that sounded roughly like 'sure.'
Lily grabbed an apple and then hurried out to her next, History of Magic. Sirius ran in a different direction after grabbing a bread roll and ran up the many corridors for Divination. Lily arrived late, and tardiness wasn't common with her. Professor Binns just gave her a warning not to be late again. Lily apologised and sat at her lonely desk at the corner of the room, where sunlight shone and illuminated her bare desk. She brought out her parchment and quill and tried to make noted, but the Professor Binn's monotonous voice wasn't exactly exciting to her. She didn't get enough sleep and barely nothing to eat, just a red apple. The light shining in her eyes were making her uncomfortable so she squinted a lot. She finally propped her head in her hands with the same bored expression as everyone in the class. A cool breeze started to blow on her, and she closed her eyes enjoying the light wind ruffle the loose strands of her loose bun.
The lake was so peaceful. The moonlight danced on its surface. It was a crescent moon so no werewolf problems. Lily walked to the rim of lake, took off her shoes and stepped into the shallow waters. She looked up and there stood a hooded figure, with shimmering silver glowing eyes. It distorted the peaceful vision. It turned to face her, and it floated about five inches above the ground. It held out its hand, as if it wanted her to take it. It was a pale grotesque hand. The skin was wrinkled and scrunched up. Blue veins were sticking up from it, and its long yellow nails were chipped. Somehow, it didn't feel right. She shook her head and started to turn away. But then she saw one finger point at her chest; a green ball light of light started to form at the tip. Lily started shaking in fear. She stood rooted to the spot. As it was about to shoot, she felt how her body was lifted up. As she looked down, she saw strong hind legs running s fast as they could. She saw the familiar tufts of messy silvery white hair on the stag's head. "Prongs?" she asked confused.
Lily felt a sudden cold sweep through her. She saw from the corner of her eye, Professor Binn's cold ghostly hand come out of her hand.
"Miss Evans, I would appreciate it if you stayed awake during class." He snapped at her.
"Sorry Professor." She said meekly.
The rest of the classes went by. And that dream bothered her a little. Who was that figure? She didn't take Divination, so she couldn't tell these sort of things. Lily headed to the common room, dropped off all her things at her desk in her dorm and then headed for the boy's dorm. She opened it and stepped inside quietly.
"Hello Lil," Remus greeted her from the bed. He had been reading a book Peter had brought him from the library.
"Hi Moony, how are you feeling?"
"Not too bad. But Prongs, he's been groaning a little, sounds like he's having a bad dream." Remus said and pointed at James, who seemed to have a slight frown on his face.
"Has he woken up yet?" Lily asked and felt James' forehead.
"No, not yet." Remus answered, looking at his friend. After washing up James' wounds, she started to leave, leaving Remus time to rest. During this time, Sirius entered.
"I thought you said you weren't reliable enough to help Prongs," Sirius said from the door.
"I'm not. I'm not worthy of his friendship, but you were in detention, and he needed a clean dressing," Lily muttered.
"Ok."
"Now, I've got to go, I've got double homework to do. And please be quiet for Moony," Lily said and walked out.
Lily headed for a big desk in the common room. She sprawled out all the work on the desks. She charmed her quill so that it would look like James' handwriting. She sprawled out the Arithmancy worked and started on the long hard calculations. Arithmancy was a hard subject, but if you understood it, it would seem simple. She started on the calculations and finished them easily. Next, she started on his Herbology, Divination and Potions write-ups he had to do. Last on James' list of homework was an essay for DADA. She started researching the topic well into the night. She finally finished it at in the ungodly hours of the morning. She felt too tired to return to her dorm, and just curled up on the couch and fell into a light sleep.
Meanwhile, in the boy's dorms, James stirred. He groaned a little in pain, and opened his eyes groggily. His vision was blurry and he reached out for his glasses. He tried to get out of bed, but instantly regretted that move as pain flashed through his body. Remus awoke when he heard James in pain.
"Hey, lie down Prongs, you need as much rest as you can get," Remus said.
"Moony? What…what happened?" James asked hoarsely.
Remus explained the events of what had happened the previous night. James remained silent, listening to everything being said. When Remus had finished, James just lay silently and looked up at his four poster bed. He let loose the knots that kept the hangings back and let them fall.
"James, are you ok?" Remus asked. Silence responded him.
Remus sighed and lay back on his own bed. 'Lily's done it big time.' Remus thought and drifted back into his light sleep.
