Warning: There is enough fluff in this chapter to keep a mattress company in business for the next five years. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Lily's eyes fluttered but remained closed; 'Where am I?' she thought to herself. The white light behind her eyes was way too bright, and she definitely was not in her bed.
"Mr. Potter, GET OUT!" she heard a frustrated woman's voice shout.
"Aww, C'mon, Poppy, let me stay," she heard a second voice, male this time, plead.
"ITS MADAM POMFREY TO YOU, NOW GET OUT! YOU'VE BEEN HERE ALL WEEK, I PROMISE I'LL LET YOU KNOW WHEN SHE WAKES UP!"
All week? Lily opened her eyes and sat up, frowning at the sight that met her eyes: A very agitated Madam Pomfrey, bending over a clipboard, and James, standing next to the door of the Hospital wing. The Hospital wing? How did she get there?
"Um," she said brilliantly, causing her two feuding companions to turn their attention to her.
"Lily!" James ran over and grabbed her hand in his. "How do you feel? Are you ok? DAMMIT YOU SCARED ME!" but he wasn't mad, he was smiling like it was Christmas.
Madam Pomfrey's reaction was somewhat different as she shuffled over and bent in Lily's face. "Let me listen to your heart, Miss Evans. How is your breathing, does it hurt your lungs?"
"I'm fine," Lily said, then realized that it was slightly hard to breathe. "Why am I here?"
"After you got out of the lake, you passed out," James said, frowning and leaning close to her. "Are you sure you're ok? I was so worried, but.." he trailed off, still frowning and looking at her like he expected her to pass out again.
"Miss Evans," Madam Pomfrey said, sending James a look that said 'she's my patient, leave this to me',"Were you not feeling well last week?"
"Well, I felt kind of worn out, but I was just doing so much. And I didn't have time to relax.. Wait," she said, comprehension dawning on her face. "Last week?"
"It's Friday," James said.
"Lily," Madam Pomfrey continued as if the side conversation hadn't taken place, "You exhausted yourself, and your immune system was down. You were probably infected by some bacteria in the freezing lake, and you caught pneumonia. You'll be fine, but I insist you spend at least three more days here, so I can observe you."
"But, the dance, I have to finish-" She was halfway out of bed when James gently pushed her back in.
"It's all finished," he said. "Alli, Sirius, and Remus got together and organized everything with me. The band, the food, the decorations, all taken care of. Now relax, ok? Everything will go fine."
"I have to go," she said to Madam Pomfrey. "James and I are supposed to open the dance! I-" Once again her words were cut off, but this time by a hacking cough.
"I'm sorry, but I forbid it. Listen to yourself! Do you want to catch your death? Now LAY DOWN and just let me do my job!" she left, muttering something about ungrateful students.
"James, I'm so sorry.." Lily said. "This.. This is just fucking wonderful." She shoved a hand over her mouth. "I did not just say that. I'm sorry. I... I don't feel so well." Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes and she grudgingly wiped them away. "I'm such an idiot, getting sick before the biggest event of my seventh year, making my friends do all the work." James blinked at her.
"Don't be sorry," he said as if she were being ridiculous , sitting on the edge of her bed. "Do you remember what you were doing before you fell in the lake? You were bravely saving that first year, like the Gryffindor that you are. Never apologize again, Lily, because you don't know how wonderful you are." He was sincere, it was written all over his face.
She laughed. " Shut up, I'm not wonderful. I didn't even think before I jumped in the lake. That's the way I live my life, jumping into things without thinking. Its quite stupid, really, because most of the time the consequences come back to kick me. My sister teases me terribly, and I just.. Need to stop." She closed her eyes and lost her sarcastic tone. "I think I'm going back to sleep. Stupid, I've been sleeping for days, huh?" she laughed again.
"Nah, I got to sleep with you. And I will again."
Lily opened her eyes and blinked at him, thoughts of 'what the hell?' running through her head as he climbed into the bed with her and threw his arms around her. Then she realized what he meant and leaned against him.
"And," he continued, "it's not the biggest event of your seventh year. We're the Head students, remember? We can organize another ball if we want. Now get some sleep."
And she did get some sleep, possibly the best sleep of her life, curled up in his arms.
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"Mm, I love spaghettios, they're so yummy!" -sluuurrp-
"Sirius, stop eating her food! She's asleep, not dead!"
"I'm hungry! And besides, it's just getting cold sitting here..."
These are the sounds that Lily woke up to, and she woke up laughing. "You guys," she said, blinking her eyes open. "I missed you so much." James shifted awake next to her and squinted up at their friends; Sirius and Alli were standing next to her bed.
"Bloody hell," he said. "I was having the weirdest dream, and for a moment I thought Sirius was Snape in a dress."
"Sounds like a nightmare," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. Then he flopped down at the bottom of the bed while Alli sat in the chair next to the bed. "So, Lily-darling, how the hell are you?" He put his feet in Alli's lap and leaned back on Lily's legs. Alli gave him a deadly look and he dropped his feet immediately, sitting up straight. James laughed, then hastily turned it into a cough.
Alli leaned in to her friend, brushing Lily's hair away from her face, and said in a gentle voice "Are you feeling better?"
Lily smiled. "I feel fine, just a little tired. And my chest hurts a bit."
Sirius opened his mouth to make a comment, but both James and Alli pushed him, and he fell off the bed with a thud. He shrugged and stood up, going to Lily's bedside and starting to eat her spaghettios, which Madam Pomfrey had left out for dinner.
"Have I missed much in class?" Lily asked, sitting up and putting her hands in her lap. James shifted and laid his head in her lap, so she lifted her hands and let her fingers play in his hair. He closed his eyes again.
'He must be so tired,' Lily thought, 'after spending a week here. I wonder if he got any real sleep.'
"Not too much," Alli said. "The teachers are giving us mostly review work, to keep us busy and get us ready for N.E.W.T.s. I guess there really isn't much more for them to teach us, although someone should tell McGonagall that. Hey, is your hair longer?"
Lily felt her hair, which was now down to her waist. "Yeah, when I went to buy my dress robes at Val's, she did something to make my hair longer. I guess I forgot.. I kind of like it, though. It's curlier too, not just wavy."
Sirius gulped and nearly choked on a spaghettio. "Val? Please tell me you're not talking about the Val I'm thinking of.."
"The one and only," James said, grinning. "She's not too happy with you."
"That girl has the temper of a wolf," he said. Then he stopped, as if remembering something. "Lily, Remus sends his best wishes, and he feels terrible that he couldn't come to see you, but he isn't feeling too well." James raised his eyebrows at Sirius and Sirius nodded, but since James's head was under Lily's hand, it went unnoticed.
They spent the rest of the night talking, Alli describing to Lily her dress robes and plans for what to wear. Eventually, James and Sirius left, Sirius going to bed and James going to shower and sleep in his own bed at Lily's insistence.
"Alli," Lily said, suddenly realizing something. "Who are you going to the ball with?"
Alli looked down at her feet. "Well, I didn't have a date until last night, and.. Well, Sirius didn't have a date either, cause he broke up with that girl about a week ago, and he kind of asked me. So we're going together. As friends."
Lily just smiled; over the years, she'd known that Alli had a thing for Sirius, but she also knew that Alli would never admit it in a million years. A week without a girl was really something for Sirius.
'I wonder who he was waiting for,' Lily thought with a grin. She couldn't wait to see what the following day brought.
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Boring is the word Lily would use to describe the next day. The entire castle was excitedly getting ready for the ball, and she was sitting in bed, watching the Slytherins cleaning the bed pans and threatening her with taunting words as she ignored them. They called her every name they could think of until James came in, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. Malfoy, Black, Black, and Snape all left in quite a hurry.
"James, what are you wearing?" Lily asked. "Aren't you going to the ball? You have to open it!"
He sat in the chair next to her bed and pulled a single red rose out from behind his back. "It's the job of the head boy to spend the ball with the head girl, is it not? So Sirius and Alli are opening the dance while I spend the evening with the lovely Miss Evans."
"But.. But.." her words were cut off by a single kiss.
"And I have plans for tonight. First for Lily and James's night of fun, BUBBLES!" and he pulled a small container of bubbles out of a bag Lily hadn't noticed him come in with. He opened them and held the wand up to her lips so she could blow. Purple bubbles in the shapes of stars came out.
"Madam Pomfrey would light me on fire if she saw this..." Lily said, laughing at the bubbles.
"Don't worry, Dumbledore promised he'd keep her in the Great Hall for tonight. And looking at the way Peter dances, she'll have to keep healing his date's bloody feet all night. We're safe."
She laughed again. "You're sure you don't want to go to the dance?"
"Nah, I would rather be with you." He gave her that smile, which immediately reflected on her face, and looked through his bag. "Next up on Lily and James's night of fun..."
James had a whole bunch of fun things planned for them that night. They did puzzles, told jokes, read funny stories, painted seashells that James had found by the lake, drew funny caricatures of the people they knew, and just enjoyed each other's company. Since Lily couldn't get out of bed, (Madam Pomfrey's orders), James went to the ball and brought her back some food around 8:00. He moon-walked in, singing a song he had made up. Lily laughed at him, and he gave her that goofy grin.
"Ahh," he said. "And what would the night be without a little romance?" He put Lily's dinner tray on the bed and placed a dark red tablecloth and two long white candles on it. Then he turned off the lights, lit them, and placed a vase with red roses, resembling the one he had given her earlier, on it.
They ate in silence for a few minutes before Lily broke it. "Why does Sirius live with you?" she asked. He looked up into her eyes and slowly put down his fork.
"Sirius doesn't get along with his family. They're, well, I have to say it, they're not very nice people. There's a reason why he's in Gryffindor while the rest of his family is in Slytherin; they're just so different. They're up to their necks in the Dark Arts, and Sirius hates the Dark Arts. So do I, that's why he came to me. My entire family- my mom and dad, aunts and uncles, have spent their lives trying to fight dark witches and wizards. He's lived with me for over two years now." He stared into one of the candle flames, lost in thought.
"I wish we could do something," Lily said, looking into the flame as well. "About the Dark Arts, I mean. I wish we could put an end to the deaths of all these people."
"Well," James said, looking up at her. "According to the prophecy, we are going to do something." 'Wow,' he thought. 'She looks so beautiful, sitting there in the firelight, red hair all over her shoulders, green eyes glowing.. Absolutely beautiful.'
"What are we supposed to do, though? I mean, we're just kids, we haven't even graduated yet," Lily said. Now she looked up into his eyes, which she now noticed were staring at her as if mesmerized.
"We can do anything we want," he said, still looking at her in that way, as if he were staring at her soul. It made her shiver. "I feel like I can do anything with you by my side. I.. I love you."
"You.. What?" she blinked, coming out of her daze. Her first instinct was panic- She couldn't fall in love, she would only get hurt! But then she looked into James's eyes, saw herself in James's eyes, and came to realize: "I love you too," she said. Then she started to cry.
"Why are you crying?" he asked, smiling and wiping away her tears.
"I'm so afraid of getting hurt," she said.
"I'd never hurt you," he looked honestly shocked.
"I know," she said, looking down, tears still leaking from her eyes. 'Traitorous eyes!' she thought. "But I'm still scared, you have no idea, my.. My dad, before he left, he used to hit my mom. And she still loved him. He'd cause her so much pain, and she was still a loving fool. I don't ever want to end up like her."
He tilted her head up so she was forced to look into his eyes. "I would never, NEVER, hurt you. I promise. As long as I'm alive, you'll be safe. I'm prepared to protect you with my life."
She smiled through her tears, the firelight making her eyes look like glittering emeralds. Suddenly the lights turned on and a tired voice said "Get out Potter." Lily blinked; It was like the lights coming on at the end of a sad movie with a happy ending.
James blew out the candles and stuffed everything back into his bag. He cleaned up everything they had left out and leaned over to kiss Lily quickly on the forehead, pressing something into her hand. Then he left, whispering "Happy Valentine's Day" on his way out.
"Boys," said Madam Pomfrey, coming over to take Lily's temperature and blood pressure. She mumbled about stupid teenage romance as she bustled around Lily busily, but Lily wasn't listening; she was staring at the shell James had pressed into her hand, the one he had painted tonight. It was a tiny painted picture, clearly of her in her dress robes, with her hair and clothes the way they had been the night Val had done her up. Lily marveled at how realistic it looked. Under it, painted in tiny calligraphy, was written:
"Belle of the ball, 7th year. A night to remember."
A/N: ok, I warned you. I hate fluff, but it has to be written, because the wonderful goddess JK made it very clear that Lily and James have to fall in love and have Harry. Haha. Who, if you haven't realized by now, is the heir of Gryffindor. (In my story. I don't know about JK's.) Show of hands, who wants Alli and Sirius together? I haven't decided what I'm doing yet. So, I apologize for the fluffy crap, next chapter should be a lot more... a lot more... Well, you'll see. ;0)
-Ria