It was later that day, as he visited Diagon alley for some potion
ingredients that he heard of an attack, he had just left the apothecary
when he overheard two witches gossiping in a nearby shop doorway,
"That's right, James Potter was he first to arrive", the first witch confided to her friend, Remus's heart caught in his throat, he spun around to the two witches,
"James Potter?" he asked, the witches glanced at each other taking in his bedraggled appearance, cautiously the first witch spoke...
"He was first at an attack on the other night, friend of yours" she asked, Remus nodded, at this she looked saddened, and "What is it he asked?" grabbing her arm, she shrieked and he let go, "he, well he..." "Well what is it!" Remus practically growled at her, she caught her friends eye, alarmed by the sudden change in the man, "He's in St Mungo's, he was injured in the attack" Without another word Remus apparated, arriving almost immediately in the lobby of St Mungo's hospital for magical maladies.
He rushed to the desk, "James Potter, where is he?" The nurse sat behind the desk said automatically "please take a ticket and wait your turn" Remus glared at her, "my friend is here, and he may be dying for all I know, now tell me where he is" The witch glanced up at him. "Im sorry sir, you must wait for your turn" Remus was beside himself, "Now look" he began, but feeling a slight touch on the small of his back he spun around wand at the ready, to face any security guard that might try to escort him out, but instead of the expected guard, he saw a worse sight, "Lily" he gasped, she looks awful he thought to himself, her usually fiery red hair was lank and lacklustre, deep shadows surrounded her usually bright eyes, and her whole appearance was one of defeat.
"Remus" she whispered, and practically fell into his arms, he noted that she was still wearing her own healers outfit suggesting that James had been brought in whilst she was working her shift. "It's James" she whispered tears springing to her eyes, "they don't know if he will pull through" Remus gulped and holding her shoulders, he lowered his own voice, "where is he? What happened?" "Third floor" she whispered," they don't know what's wrong, he's in a fever, has been like it for two days, he doesn't recognise me, he doesn't know anybody, he's dy...." "He's not", Remus replied savagely, then calmed himself, "Lily, it's James, do you really think he would let something like this defeat him, James is a fighter, always has been, always will be, he's going to pull through i just....
It was at that moment they entered the ward, James had been given his own room because they were not sure of the cause of his injuries, seeing James had quietened him, seeing his injuries, he could see why Lily thought he may be dying, a quiet rage began building up inside him, he swore to himself that he would find whoever it was that had done this to James, and when he did, they would really be sorry.
Lily walked over to a chair placed by his bed, Remus realised she must have spent the majority of her time here, "Where's Padfoot? Peter? Where's his parents? Your parents? she looked at him her eyes vacant, and grasped James' hand, her knuckles showing white, and it hit him, he had never stopped to find out who the attack was against, who had suffered, who were the casualties...
"Lily?" he asked cautiously, "where was the attack?" fresh tears spilled into her eyes, and he rushed to her side, "who is it?" he whispered "what happened" She gulped, and curled her legs up in front of her, "I was working" she whispered, "I should have been there, they, but, I was working" she said flatly "they, they're all dead" she let out a huge sob and a nurse came rushing in form the ward, "now now Lily", she placed her arm around her, "what are you doing to her?" she accused, "It' doesn't matter" she cut in before he could reply, "the poor girl, she wouldn't leave, she won't let us do anything" she beckoned another healer from the ward, who came over, carrying a phial which contained a misty blue liquid, "Drink this Lily" she said, Lily tensed up, "I don't want to sleep" she whispered, "I know what's in there Em and your not making me drink it, If i drink that James will be alone, anything could happen" Remus realised she must have been functioning in this way for the past two days. "mare" he whispered placing his hand on her arm, she calmed down recognising his nickname for her and looked up at him searchingly "I promise you, nothing will happen to him, I will not leave him alone, I will wake you up if there's any change" she nodded, and allowed the healers to pour the contents of the phial into her mouth, and lead her out of the room.
Remus watched her leave then turned to the remaining healer, the one Lily had called Em, "What happened?" he asked quietly almost afraid of what her answer would be.
She sighed and sat in the chair next to James's bed, "The poor girl, we thought she had no-one left or we would have contacted you earlier, I don't know all of it, but i can give you an idea. All i know is she was called into work two days ago, it was her day off, and she had planned to spend it with her parents and Mr and Mrs Potter, planning arrangements for the wedding, Anyway, she came into work, and they decided to carry on without her, as far as I can guess, James was already working himself, because he wasn't there when the attack came. The attack itself was on Massachias house"
Remus nodded recognising the name of James's family home "all I know" she said, "is that they were attacked, all killed, all four of them, James must have finished work and walked in to find them being attacked, he fought well, took out a few of the attackers in fact, they're recovering down the hall under guard, but one of them got something at him because as the aurors arrived and chased them off James collapsed and has been in this state ever since. "What about Sirius Black? Peter Pettigrew?" he asked, she looked up at him, "Who?"
Remus breathed a sigh of relief, he thought when Lily has said all dead, this quickly changed to realisation, if they weren't dead, and they weren't here, they still didn't know,
He stood up, only realising he had crouched to the floor as the healer had been talking to him, "I need an owl" he said, she also stood up, "you can't leave, I'll do it, who do you need to tell?" He quickly listed they're names, and for some reason included Albus Dumbledore, none of them had seen him since leaving school, but Remus realised that if anyone knew how to help, it would be him.
************
He paced James's room, waiting for some change, waiting for Sirius to come running in as he knew he would as soon as he had heard. Lost in his thought's of the past, she had seemed so frail, so lost, that must be why
he called her mare, he had sworn long ago, he would never call her that
again, never acknowledge how close they had once been.
He remembered the first time he had called her that, they had both
been prefects, for about two weeks, and were sent on regular patrols of corridors together in the evenings, that night, she had argued with James
yet again, it was pretty common in those days, and it was as they were walking through the corridors and she was complaining about James, that he
had grabbed her by the shoulders, and kissed her.
She had leant into the kiss, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and as she pulled away slightly breathless, she asked, "what was
that for?"
He had grinned at her, "well mare, I had to find some way to shut you up didn't I" Her face lost its shock and turned to anger, "Mare?" she asked, I
hope you are not implying that I am horse like Remus Lupin"
He ducked his head, and a slow blush rose up his neck,
"Mare, short for Mary" he said,
she looked confused, "But my names Lily"
"I know that" he replied, blushing even more, "Mary, its short for
Amaryllis" realisation flared into her eyes, he knew she would know, Amaryllis, the scientific name for the Lily, He just hoped she wouldn't realise how much time and though he had put into that name for her, She smiled at him, "We better finish this patrol" she whispered, and they had both started walking
again, in silence both lost in they're own thoughts.
*************
His thoughts came back to the present as he heard James groan, and mumble in his fever, "Lily, not Lily"
Remus immediately felt ashamed, here was James, his best friend lying, on the verge of death, and he was stood here thinking about his fiancée, he looked at James who had once again settled down, "I'm sorry mate" he whispered, touching his arm slowly, "Sorry for what" said Sirius from the doorway, Remus looked up sharply, Sirius was lent on the doorway his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I, I wasn't there" he finished lamely, Sirius nodded and stepped into the room, "know what you mean moon" He looked at James, "but this thing is not going to get Prongs, it would take a mass disaster to kill him, and even then I think he would have trouble going" he smiled at his friend who lay sleeping, Remus looked at him, "they got his parents" he confided, "Sirius's smile left his face, "And whoever they are, they're going to pay, no one hurt's my family and gets away with it, where's Lily?"
Remus motioned to the hallway, "room next door, getting some sleep" Sirius nodded, "why didn't she tell us?" Remus sighed and sat down, "To be honest mate I don't think she even thought of it, she's been sitting at his bedside for the past two days, not eating or sleeping, she's in shock, they got her parents as well, apparently James only made it because some aurors turned up or they might have got him as well, the one thing I can't understand though, I was in the lobby, shouting and she came and got me, apparently it was the first time she left his side, but how did she know I was there?"
"No idea mate" replied Sirius "Perhaps she heard your gob" Remus shook his head, "Couldn't be that, I had only... he broke off seeing Sirius's grin, "Swine"
They both sat at James' bedside, waiting, hoping he could wake up, they saw no sign of Peter, and it was several hours later, that Lily came back in the room, looking slightly better for her sleep.
She went straight to James' side and grabbed his hand, "any change?" she asked Remus hopefully, he shook his head, "nope", she sat on the chair by the bed and buried her head in his covers, "James, wake up please, you're all I have left" she whispered, grasping his hand as tight as she could. A lump moved into Remus' throat, "I'm going to get a drink, anyone want one?" his voice sounded strained even to him, and Sirius looked at him curiously, "Coffee please Moon" Lily nodded "same please".
He left the room, and rushed to the higher floor to get the drinks. It was as he returned to the room that he saw Albus Dumbledore stood in the hallway, a small package in his hand, he rushed to him "Professor" he said, Dumbledore spotted him "where is he Remus?"
He motioned to the door on the left, his hands still full, Dumbledore nodded, and swept into the room, Remus followed him, hearing the gasps from Lily and Sirius, "I'm going to have to ask you both to leave a moment" said Dumbledore, Sirius, grabbed Lily's arm, nodding to Dumbledore, "well be right outside" Dumbledore followed them, and closed the door and the blinds of James's room.
Lily panicked, "what's he going to do" Remus handed her the coffee, "help James" he said simply. They sat in the ward, hearing nothing from the room, Lily stared vacantly into her coffee, not drinking it, whilst Sirius sat, his arm still around her, watching Remus intently, who had spotted a loose thread in his cloak, and was now pulling it out bit by bit to keep himself occupied.
************
It was 20 minutes later when the door opened, and jumping to they're feet, they ran to the doorway, Dumbledore sat inside talking to a freshly awoken James. He still looked pretty week, but the fact that he was even awake was enough for lily, she ran over and flung herself onto the bed and into his arms. "hey what's this for" he grinned, and kissed her, Sirius turned to Remus, "see told you so" he also walked to James's bedside, "bout time you woke up prongs, I was about to pull the moves on Lily" he winked, Lily looked at him, "wouldn't have worked" she replied, "Sirius tipped his head and moved closed and in stage whisper said "I know you love me really Lil's, no-one can resist the Padfoot charm" They all laughed, It was high, and slightly strained, but they were all relieved, James had pulled through, It would all be alright.
**************
(A/N) hope you like it so far, please review ...
Also if anyone has a suggestion for a decent tile I would love to hear it
SilverMoonLuna
"That's right, James Potter was he first to arrive", the first witch confided to her friend, Remus's heart caught in his throat, he spun around to the two witches,
"James Potter?" he asked, the witches glanced at each other taking in his bedraggled appearance, cautiously the first witch spoke...
"He was first at an attack on the other night, friend of yours" she asked, Remus nodded, at this she looked saddened, and "What is it he asked?" grabbing her arm, she shrieked and he let go, "he, well he..." "Well what is it!" Remus practically growled at her, she caught her friends eye, alarmed by the sudden change in the man, "He's in St Mungo's, he was injured in the attack" Without another word Remus apparated, arriving almost immediately in the lobby of St Mungo's hospital for magical maladies.
He rushed to the desk, "James Potter, where is he?" The nurse sat behind the desk said automatically "please take a ticket and wait your turn" Remus glared at her, "my friend is here, and he may be dying for all I know, now tell me where he is" The witch glanced up at him. "Im sorry sir, you must wait for your turn" Remus was beside himself, "Now look" he began, but feeling a slight touch on the small of his back he spun around wand at the ready, to face any security guard that might try to escort him out, but instead of the expected guard, he saw a worse sight, "Lily" he gasped, she looks awful he thought to himself, her usually fiery red hair was lank and lacklustre, deep shadows surrounded her usually bright eyes, and her whole appearance was one of defeat.
"Remus" she whispered, and practically fell into his arms, he noted that she was still wearing her own healers outfit suggesting that James had been brought in whilst she was working her shift. "It's James" she whispered tears springing to her eyes, "they don't know if he will pull through" Remus gulped and holding her shoulders, he lowered his own voice, "where is he? What happened?" "Third floor" she whispered," they don't know what's wrong, he's in a fever, has been like it for two days, he doesn't recognise me, he doesn't know anybody, he's dy...." "He's not", Remus replied savagely, then calmed himself, "Lily, it's James, do you really think he would let something like this defeat him, James is a fighter, always has been, always will be, he's going to pull through i just....
It was at that moment they entered the ward, James had been given his own room because they were not sure of the cause of his injuries, seeing James had quietened him, seeing his injuries, he could see why Lily thought he may be dying, a quiet rage began building up inside him, he swore to himself that he would find whoever it was that had done this to James, and when he did, they would really be sorry.
Lily walked over to a chair placed by his bed, Remus realised she must have spent the majority of her time here, "Where's Padfoot? Peter? Where's his parents? Your parents? she looked at him her eyes vacant, and grasped James' hand, her knuckles showing white, and it hit him, he had never stopped to find out who the attack was against, who had suffered, who were the casualties...
"Lily?" he asked cautiously, "where was the attack?" fresh tears spilled into her eyes, and he rushed to her side, "who is it?" he whispered "what happened" She gulped, and curled her legs up in front of her, "I was working" she whispered, "I should have been there, they, but, I was working" she said flatly "they, they're all dead" she let out a huge sob and a nurse came rushing in form the ward, "now now Lily", she placed her arm around her, "what are you doing to her?" she accused, "It' doesn't matter" she cut in before he could reply, "the poor girl, she wouldn't leave, she won't let us do anything" she beckoned another healer from the ward, who came over, carrying a phial which contained a misty blue liquid, "Drink this Lily" she said, Lily tensed up, "I don't want to sleep" she whispered, "I know what's in there Em and your not making me drink it, If i drink that James will be alone, anything could happen" Remus realised she must have been functioning in this way for the past two days. "mare" he whispered placing his hand on her arm, she calmed down recognising his nickname for her and looked up at him searchingly "I promise you, nothing will happen to him, I will not leave him alone, I will wake you up if there's any change" she nodded, and allowed the healers to pour the contents of the phial into her mouth, and lead her out of the room.
Remus watched her leave then turned to the remaining healer, the one Lily had called Em, "What happened?" he asked quietly almost afraid of what her answer would be.
She sighed and sat in the chair next to James's bed, "The poor girl, we thought she had no-one left or we would have contacted you earlier, I don't know all of it, but i can give you an idea. All i know is she was called into work two days ago, it was her day off, and she had planned to spend it with her parents and Mr and Mrs Potter, planning arrangements for the wedding, Anyway, she came into work, and they decided to carry on without her, as far as I can guess, James was already working himself, because he wasn't there when the attack came. The attack itself was on Massachias house"
Remus nodded recognising the name of James's family home "all I know" she said, "is that they were attacked, all killed, all four of them, James must have finished work and walked in to find them being attacked, he fought well, took out a few of the attackers in fact, they're recovering down the hall under guard, but one of them got something at him because as the aurors arrived and chased them off James collapsed and has been in this state ever since. "What about Sirius Black? Peter Pettigrew?" he asked, she looked up at him, "Who?"
Remus breathed a sigh of relief, he thought when Lily has said all dead, this quickly changed to realisation, if they weren't dead, and they weren't here, they still didn't know,
He stood up, only realising he had crouched to the floor as the healer had been talking to him, "I need an owl" he said, she also stood up, "you can't leave, I'll do it, who do you need to tell?" He quickly listed they're names, and for some reason included Albus Dumbledore, none of them had seen him since leaving school, but Remus realised that if anyone knew how to help, it would be him.
************
He paced James's room, waiting for some change, waiting for Sirius to come running in as he knew he would as soon as he had heard. Lost in his thought's of the past, she had seemed so frail, so lost, that must be why
he called her mare, he had sworn long ago, he would never call her that
again, never acknowledge how close they had once been.
He remembered the first time he had called her that, they had both
been prefects, for about two weeks, and were sent on regular patrols of corridors together in the evenings, that night, she had argued with James
yet again, it was pretty common in those days, and it was as they were walking through the corridors and she was complaining about James, that he
had grabbed her by the shoulders, and kissed her.
She had leant into the kiss, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and as she pulled away slightly breathless, she asked, "what was
that for?"
He had grinned at her, "well mare, I had to find some way to shut you up didn't I" Her face lost its shock and turned to anger, "Mare?" she asked, I
hope you are not implying that I am horse like Remus Lupin"
He ducked his head, and a slow blush rose up his neck,
"Mare, short for Mary" he said,
she looked confused, "But my names Lily"
"I know that" he replied, blushing even more, "Mary, its short for
Amaryllis" realisation flared into her eyes, he knew she would know, Amaryllis, the scientific name for the Lily, He just hoped she wouldn't realise how much time and though he had put into that name for her, She smiled at him, "We better finish this patrol" she whispered, and they had both started walking
again, in silence both lost in they're own thoughts.
*************
His thoughts came back to the present as he heard James groan, and mumble in his fever, "Lily, not Lily"
Remus immediately felt ashamed, here was James, his best friend lying, on the verge of death, and he was stood here thinking about his fiancée, he looked at James who had once again settled down, "I'm sorry mate" he whispered, touching his arm slowly, "Sorry for what" said Sirius from the doorway, Remus looked up sharply, Sirius was lent on the doorway his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I, I wasn't there" he finished lamely, Sirius nodded and stepped into the room, "know what you mean moon" He looked at James, "but this thing is not going to get Prongs, it would take a mass disaster to kill him, and even then I think he would have trouble going" he smiled at his friend who lay sleeping, Remus looked at him, "they got his parents" he confided, "Sirius's smile left his face, "And whoever they are, they're going to pay, no one hurt's my family and gets away with it, where's Lily?"
Remus motioned to the hallway, "room next door, getting some sleep" Sirius nodded, "why didn't she tell us?" Remus sighed and sat down, "To be honest mate I don't think she even thought of it, she's been sitting at his bedside for the past two days, not eating or sleeping, she's in shock, they got her parents as well, apparently James only made it because some aurors turned up or they might have got him as well, the one thing I can't understand though, I was in the lobby, shouting and she came and got me, apparently it was the first time she left his side, but how did she know I was there?"
"No idea mate" replied Sirius "Perhaps she heard your gob" Remus shook his head, "Couldn't be that, I had only... he broke off seeing Sirius's grin, "Swine"
They both sat at James' bedside, waiting, hoping he could wake up, they saw no sign of Peter, and it was several hours later, that Lily came back in the room, looking slightly better for her sleep.
She went straight to James' side and grabbed his hand, "any change?" she asked Remus hopefully, he shook his head, "nope", she sat on the chair by the bed and buried her head in his covers, "James, wake up please, you're all I have left" she whispered, grasping his hand as tight as she could. A lump moved into Remus' throat, "I'm going to get a drink, anyone want one?" his voice sounded strained even to him, and Sirius looked at him curiously, "Coffee please Moon" Lily nodded "same please".
He left the room, and rushed to the higher floor to get the drinks. It was as he returned to the room that he saw Albus Dumbledore stood in the hallway, a small package in his hand, he rushed to him "Professor" he said, Dumbledore spotted him "where is he Remus?"
He motioned to the door on the left, his hands still full, Dumbledore nodded, and swept into the room, Remus followed him, hearing the gasps from Lily and Sirius, "I'm going to have to ask you both to leave a moment" said Dumbledore, Sirius, grabbed Lily's arm, nodding to Dumbledore, "well be right outside" Dumbledore followed them, and closed the door and the blinds of James's room.
Lily panicked, "what's he going to do" Remus handed her the coffee, "help James" he said simply. They sat in the ward, hearing nothing from the room, Lily stared vacantly into her coffee, not drinking it, whilst Sirius sat, his arm still around her, watching Remus intently, who had spotted a loose thread in his cloak, and was now pulling it out bit by bit to keep himself occupied.
************
It was 20 minutes later when the door opened, and jumping to they're feet, they ran to the doorway, Dumbledore sat inside talking to a freshly awoken James. He still looked pretty week, but the fact that he was even awake was enough for lily, she ran over and flung herself onto the bed and into his arms. "hey what's this for" he grinned, and kissed her, Sirius turned to Remus, "see told you so" he also walked to James's bedside, "bout time you woke up prongs, I was about to pull the moves on Lily" he winked, Lily looked at him, "wouldn't have worked" she replied, "Sirius tipped his head and moved closed and in stage whisper said "I know you love me really Lil's, no-one can resist the Padfoot charm" They all laughed, It was high, and slightly strained, but they were all relieved, James had pulled through, It would all be alright.
**************
(A/N) hope you like it so far, please review ...
Also if anyone has a suggestion for a decent tile I would love to hear it
SilverMoonLuna