Sirius was crumpled at the foot of the stairs, skin a sickly blue. Lily dropped to her knees beside him. "Sirius!"
He didn't move. She punched him in the gut. "You fucking asshole. Sirius!"
A crowd was gathering, yawning and grumbling about the noise. James came down and grabbed Lily.
"Fuck you," he said. She punched Sirius again. James let her go. Sirius was breathing, coughing and retching but breathing just the same.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" she said. "When are you going to stop?"
"Get off me," he said. She didn't move.
"Stop, Sirius, stop, you've got to stop." She held on to him, stroking his hair. He kept fighting her.
"Get off me. Get out of here."
James pried her off and pushed her back. "Get up."
"Leave off, James," Sirius said. He tried to get his feet under him and swayed, levered himself up the wall. James didn't touch him.
"Hi, guys," Sirius said, looking around. "Hi."
"Hospital wing," James said.
"No." Sirius was shaking his head, trembling from head to foot but not relenting. James took out his wand.
"Hospital wing," he said.